Muse-ical Midgar
by Sainte Matthewe
Summary: Three original characters, La Atressa, Sainte Matthewe, and Elenni, try to make their debut in Midgar, but get more than they'd bargined for.


"Muse-ical Midgar"  
  
By Sainte Matthewe with much help from La Atressa  
  
Multitude of Dreams: Author's note-  
  
Okay, legal stuff. Some characters are property of Squaresoft, and some are mine.. All right, not really, because they are based on people, I know, but that doesn't really matter. Those characters, which are mine, you have met before, if you have read Senior Tripp.  
  
This story takes place shortly after the end of Final Fantasy VII. I haven't beaten the game, yet, so forgive any nuances that shouldn't be there. Some nuances are probably on purpose. I mean after all, it is my story.  
  
** 'Treacherous Love', Words and music by L. Ron Hubbard and Edgar Winter. Used without permission.  
  
The green atmosphere sparkled eerily in the artificial lights of the new Sector Seven Slums. The 'new' slums had risen out the rubble of the old, like a tattered phoenix. Amongst those businesses that had been reborn with the slums, was the bar known as Tifa's 7th Heaven.  
  
Up the sagging steps, and behind the counter stood the proprietor herself, lazily wiping the countertop with a damp rag. She surveyed her domain and yawned. The place was disserted, thus making her present state almost unbearably boring, especially after recent events.  
  
Tifa was nearly falling asleep, when a deliveryman, thoroughly disgusted by having to set foot in the slums, stormed in. Startled out of her silent reverie, Tifa focused her brown eyes upon the intruder. "May I help you?"  
  
"Yeah. I have a package for a Miss Tifa Lockheart." He said with the nasal accent of Upper Midgar.  
  
"I would be her." Tifa replied pleasantly as she stepped out from behind the counter.  
  
"Yeah?" answered the deliveryman almost querulously, as he dug in his pockets for the miniscule package. Once he found it, he thrust it forward, towards the recipient. "Here." With the package safely in Tifa's hands, the man turned and fled towards the dubious safety of Upper Midgar.  
  
As the deliveryman retreated from her domain, Tifa looked town at the little rectangular package she was given. A note had been taped to it, so she pulled it off and unfolded it. The note appeared to be a playbill for a nightclub in Upper Midgar known as Indigo Blues. It was apparent from the poster that the club was hosting a musical group called Spiral Dance, but it was not the advertising that caught Tifa's eye.  
  
It was the odd, almost Celtic script near the top of the playbill. Attention all AVALANCHE members! it proclaimed in black marker. Your presence is required at the club Indigo Blues during the advertised date and time. It is necessary to present this playbill at the door for proper identification. Do NOT throw it away!  
  
Tifa let her gaze wander down the page. Seeing the date and time, she exclaimed, "SHIT! That's tonite!" She then hurried towards AVALANCE headquarters.  
  
1 Meanwhile, in the ruins of the Crater.  
  
The mildly insane scientist, Hojo, shuffled gloomily through the skeletal remains of a lab. He had long since regenerated and commenced rebuilding the lab, but now, he was distracted. He was quietly finishing his ninety- fifth circuit of the room, when the serpentine Sephiroth stalked in.  
  
At the silver-haired man's entrance, the scientist halted in mid-step, and looked up. "Sephiroth, m'boy. You look like you could use some time off."  
  
Sephiroth glared darkly, and growled.  
  
Hojo's eyes widened almost imperceptibly, for he was taken aback by the other's volatile reaction. "Oh no, son. No insult was meant," he said almost amicably. "You just look a little ragged."  
  
Sephiroth grumbled, then, as if realizing something, he narrowed his bright emerald eyes, suspiciously. He, again, muttered something incoherent.  
  
Hojo smiled benignly. "Yes, you're right. I am up to something." He turned, and resumed his pacing. "A few days ago, there was a short disturbance in the Lifestream, much like that of a door opening and closing." He spoke quietly as he walked. "I looked into it, and found that it was indeed a door." Hojo trailed off, and turned sharply toward the other man. He locked his gaze upon Sephiroth, who sneered.  
  
"A door to other worlds, I suppose." Sephiroth said, his hand straying to the hilt of his sword. He snorted indignantly. "And you want ME to find the one that can open that door, don't you?" Sephiroth shook his head, and an unruly lock of silver hair tumbled into his reptilian visage. "You are getting predictable, old man."  
  
" 'Old man', indeed!" Hojo suddenly snapped. He returned to his circuit of his lab. "But, alas, you are correct. I do want you to capture the one. or ones that hold such a powerful knowledge." Turning to face Sephiroth once more, he continued. "As near as I can pinpoint, your quarry is in Upper Midgar.  
  
The silver-haired warrior closed his eyes and sighed. He preferred a smaller target area, but such was the failings of Hojo's 'science'.  
  
While such things were occurring elsewhere, in the Presidential Suite, on the top floor of the Shin-Ra Tower (Sung to the tune of "My Darlin' Clemintine").  
  
Proud and vain President Rufus Shin-Ra stood gazing out at his city. After the passing of the most recent group of crises, his days were nothing but a long string of pointless monotonies. His pet, Dark Nation stood next to him, eyeing the TURKs, who had just entered, hungrily.  
  
Rufus sighed heavily, but did not turn around at his minions' entrance. "What a pointless existence." he murmured. "The same complaints from the same sniveling scum."  
  
Elena, made increasingly nervous by Dark Nation's unwavering stare, offered timidly, "If you're so bored, sir, there's a new group at the club."  
  
Rufus spun around, and glared at her. "You think my present state is so superficial to be relieved by the momentary pleasure of listening to some weird musical group?!"  
  
Elena cringed, and in a surprising chivalrous gesture, Tseng defended her. "Well, Elena thought perhaps that it could break up the monotony of your day."  
  
The president ran his left hand through his blond hair. "Did I say it was a bad idea?!" he demanded irately.  
  
At the club, Indigo Blues.  
  
Inside the empty, dimly lit club, three young ladies sat around one of the many miniscule tables. They appeared quite normal, but when someone met them for the first time, that person noticed something odd about them that they could not place their finger on. Something in the way the girls presented themselves, or perhaps it was the odd glint in their eyes that marked them as not local fauna.  
  
"Explain to me again why your hair turned white." The one closest to the door demanded of her friend.  
  
Nicki sighed exasperatedly. "Elenni, do I really have need of explaining it to you yet again?!"  
  
A third party grinned. "You better believe it!"  
  
Nicki shook her head, and smoothed back her shockingly white hair. "Elenni, Carolyn, I will explain this for the LAST time." She began, pointedly emphasizing 'last'. "You know that we were being attacked while we were opening that Gate, right? Well, just after you two went through, the little bugger that was attacking us broke cover and was about to pursue us into this world. The only things that I could think of, because I was out of ammunition, was jump through the Gate and close it while I was still in the Void between worlds. Now do you understand?!"  
  
The other two girls grinned and asked in unison, "But WHY white?"  
  
Nicki sighed once more. "'Cause its eternity in there." she replied cryptically.  
  
"E-yeah." Carolyn said.  
  
Elenni turned to Carolyn and changed the subject. "So, what's on the program for tonite?"  
  
Carolyn shrugged, and examined the lyric sheets in front of her. "Usual opening set, I guess. How 'bout we do some Mission Earth stuff in our second set?"  
  
"Sounds good. Porthos?" Elenni turned to toward her other friend, Nicki, who was turning a bright crimson as she read her copy of one of the pages.  
  
"Um. Do I really have to sing 'Teach Me'?" she responded uncertainly.  
  
"Yeah. What's wrong? You sing it all the time." answered Carolyn, looking rather perplexed.  
  
"Normally, I sing it in third person. You have it here in first." Nicki pointed to a spot on the paper.  
  
"Oh." Carolyn leaned over to examine the paper. "OH! No wonder you were blushing!" she exclaimed.  
  
"What ARE you talking about?" demanded Elenni, attempting to peer over her friends' shoulders.  
  
" 'There was a man when I was young.'" recited the other two in unison.  
  
".Oh!" Elenni said, finally understanding the complaint. She then suddenly schooled her face into a stern expression. "After all those times you made me sing 'Bang-Bang', I think you disserve it"  
  
Nicki's eyes grew wide. "But. But, 'Bang-Bang' ain't bawdy!" she whined.  
  
"Yeah? So?"  
  
"Yeah. Well, then." Nicki trailed off, trying to think of a suitable repercussion. "Then. Then... Then, you have to dress as the Countess Krak!" she finally exclaimed, feeling rather haughty.  
  
"Yeah? So? I'm the drummer, remember?" Elenni pointed out. "I don't have to stand up, if I don't wanna. If I did, the drumset would hide most everything."  
  
Nicki's face fell, and Carolyn, who had been observing the occurrence impassively, suddenly burst out laughing. "You guys are too much. Throwing a fit over a song." After a few more seconds of giggling, she suddenly sobered up. "But, we're wasting valuable practice time. C'mon! Everybody onstage!" She then spun on her heel and led the way to the stage.  
  
Back in the Sector Seven Slums.  
  
In AVALANCHE's underground hideout, Vincent Valentine was at a computer console, absorbed by his own version of the computer game, 'Elf Bowling'. In this version, that he had reconfigured, he was the bowler, and the elves all looked like Hojo, Sephiroth, or Jenova. He was quite proud of his accomplishment, and was, at present, working on a new version of the game 'Frog-a-pult'. He smiled to himself as he got a strike.  
  
On the floor, next to Vincent, sat the wolf-like Red XII, who was also known as Nanaki. Although he had a book open at his feet, he was really watching the dark man play his computer game. Nanaki began to laugh outright, as the Hojo-elf's head was pulled off. He had no more love for Hojo than did the game's creator.  
  
Hearing his friend's laughter, Vincent turned to his companion with a smile perched awkwardly upon his lips. "Fun game, huh?"  
  
Nanaki offered him a lupine grin. "Quite educational."  
  
A moment later, Tifa burst into the room, followed by Barret, Cid, Cait Sith, Yuffie, and Cloud, shattering the relative peace. Nanaki looked over at the invaders. "What's all the hubbub, bub?" he asked, gracelessly employing a cliché.  
  
From behind Tifa, the lumbering Barret grinned. "Would youze believe dat weze gots an invite to de hipest club in da town?"  
  
Nanaki glanced pointedly over at Cloud. Barret caught the lupine creature's wandering gaze. "Yeah, da pointy-haired freak, too."  
  
From the computer console, Vincent continued to smile, feeling like an indulgent uncle. "Oh, that came today?" he asked lightly. "I wasn't expecting it so soon. They certainly are efficient."  
  
All eyes focused upon him. "Youze wuz spectin' dis?" asked Barret.  
  
Vincent looked slightly taken aback by the question. "But, of course. And the package holds special ID cards they made up for each of us." He answered calmly.  
  
Everyone looked to Tifa, who looked down at the small package she held in her hand. After a long moment, she nodded. "That's right."  
  
Barret glanced back over at Vincent. "Den whoze 'dey'?" he demanded.  
  
"Why, the members of Spiral Dance, themselves." Vincent stood up, and walked over to Tifa. He gingerly plucked the playbill from her grasp. "Judging by the handwriting, I'd say it was Nicki who ultimately sent it." he said quietly.  
  
"Eh?" asked Cloud, his faced darkly stained with perplexity. He reached up, and began scratching the back of his head in an unconscious gesture.  
  
"I think what Cloud is trying to say," Yuffie began, with an odd, puzzled look upon her youthful face. "Is, how do you know the hottest new band in Midgar?"  
  
Vincent shrugged, as he returned the playbill to Tifa, and made his way back to his chair. "Funny, you should answer that, Yuffie." he began quietly, sitting back down. "One evening, as I was returning from job hunting, I heard them playing on a street corner." He trailed off, trying to gather his thoughts. "It was the oddest dang thing." He resumed with a tiny smile. "I mean, who ever heard of playing on a street corner? And the music they played." He shook his head. "While catchy, was the strangest thing I've ever heard, but I stayed and listened. Once they finished their set, and the crowd dispersed, I went up and introduced myself."  
  
"Oh." said Cloud, wisely.  
  
"That explains why you disappear for an hour or so each day." observed Tifa.  
  
Vincent flushed. "Um. yeah. On occasion, I play guitar with them, but for the most part, I go and get a cup of coffee with Carolyn, the keyboard player."  
  
In Upper Midgar.  
  
The mighty Sephiroth was muttering to himself. He was gradually becoming rather angry. He had spent valuable power in materializing here from the Crater. He passed most of the day searching for someone whom he did not know, and now his feet were hurting. He had talked to many rude, worthless peons, and now he was ready to kill the next moron that pissed him off.  
  
He sighed as he leaned back against the cold columns of an icy building. Above him, blue neon lights glowed coldly, spelling out Indigo Blues. On the other side of the wall on which he relaxed, a synthesizer sang along with a saxophone, wailing its regrets.  
  
Hearing the odd music, Sephiroth turned and peered into a thin arrowlet window. Across the darkened barroom, he spied a short, white-haired girl, playing an oddly shaped, silver woodwind instrument. To her right, another girl ran her fingers over a strange sounding keyboard thing. Behind them both, sat a third girl, banging upon a bizarre looking drum. He watched the trio intensely, for he knew that they were the ones he was looking for. An icy smile, like winter sunlight glinting in the blade of a scythe, twisted his thin lips.  
  
Inside.  
  
Nicki removed her mouth from her saxophone, and began to sing, once more. "And as you wound your spell about me  
  
Each kiss I took begged more  
  
I felt myself a mountain high  
  
Into heaven I could soar  
  
Lead me now into temptation,  
  
With the lure of sweet sensation  
  
I would die just to get enough  
  
Still I'm alone with a treacherous love."**  
  
The group finished their song, and stopped to take a breather. As she was removing the saxophone strap from around her neck, Nicki noticed something in the window. "Hey, does anyone else see a smudge of silver over there." she asked as she pointed.  
  
From behind a keyboard, Carolyn strained forward to catch a better glimpse of the object her friend was pointing to. "Yeah, a smear of silver around an oval of a flesh tone in that window by the door."  
  
Nicki leaned forward and squinted her eyes. "Yeah, that's right."  
  
From her seat behind the drumset, Elenni shook her head. "That's just the weirdo that has been watching us since the second verse of that last song." She shrugged. "I think you guys need stronger prescriptions."  
  
Nicki strained forward for a moment, then turned and looked back at her friend. "Yeah? Well that would only make me see the audience better. Now why would I wanna do that?"  
  
Carolyn continued to try and see the stranger at the window clearer. "She's got a point there, Athos."  
  
"True." responded Elenni, accompanying herself with a drum halt.  
  
".And DOWN!" chorused Carolyn and Nicki once their friend reached the end of her drum-halt.  
  
"What?!" the drummer asked with a perplexed look.  
  
"GUIDE!!" shouted Nicki in response.  
  
"What?!" the percussionist demanded once more, as she absently tapped a drum head four times.  
  
"HUP!!" the other two chorused, and began to march around the stage.  
  
"Oh. Just you guys being silly." Elenni finally concluded with a shake of her shaggy hair. After a moment of watching the odd occurrence, she muttered, "Band geeks." and tapped out another drum halt.  
  
Once more, the others responded, ".And DOWN!!"  
  
Elenni simply shrugged in response. "Whatever." she muttered, and scratched her head with the end of a drumstick. "Back to the music. Why don't we play that ballad that you wrote, Aramis.? Um. 'One-Winged Angel'.?"  
  
"Melancholy Angel." Carolyn corrected as she strolled over to her keyboard.  
  
"Whatever." Elenni shrugged once again.  
  
"Groovie!" answered Nicki as she returned to her place onstage.  
  
At Shin-Ra Headquarters.  
  
Moments earlier, Rufus had dismissed the TURKs to change into something more respectable. He had returned to staring blankly out the window with Dark Nation padding quietly about the room. The great, panther-like creature had circled the suite five times, and was beginning a sixth, when his master turned and sighed.  
  
Wordlessly, Rufus crossed the room to commence his own preening, and for a vain man like the president, such things are lengthy procedures.  
  
(Hearing this narration, Rufus looked up at the ceiling, and informed it, "HEY! I heard that!"  
  
Before him, the air shimmered, and a young lady with long brown hair, and a halo of glowing gold hovering above her head appeared. With her hands upon her hips, and her voice dripping with irritation, she responded, "Well of course! You were supposed to!!" Gesturing oddly, she commanded, "Now, will you please get on with it?"  
  
Slightly defeated, Rufus asked, innocently, "Get on with what?"  
  
The haloed girl sighed exasperatedly. Still gesturing, she answered, "How should I know? I'm not a voyeur! Whatever it is you do in the bathroom!" With that, she turned away from the blond president, and told the ceiling, "Actors! I swear.!"  
  
Once the young lady with the halo left, Rufus clenched his hands and muttered, "Insolent writers. One of these days.!")  
  
With AVALANCHE in the Sector Seven Slums.  
  
"Yeah? Well, that's !@$%&*# fascinating." Cid announced nonchalantly from the back of the congregation.  
  
Vincent immediately looked up and answered, "I'm so very glad you feel that way Cid." As the group began to snicker, he continued. "Since you find my tale so fascinating, I recommend you all get ready to go up to the Club."  
  
It was Tifa's turn to appear perplexed. "But the poster says that the concert doesn't start for another two hours!"  
  
"Well, it takes quite some time to get to Upper Midgar, does it not?" Vincent asked with one questing eyebrow raised. Tifa nodded, and the dark man continued to speak. "And since you showed such enthusiasm, I would assume you wish to meet these ladies, no?" The woman nodded once more, as Vincent stood. "Well, then, shall we go?"  
  
The entire group chorused "YEAH!!" and then stampeded out the door.  
  
Inside the club.  
  
"Aw-right," Nicki began, once she reached her customary place onstage. "We got two hours before show time. Let's play two more sets, then, take the last hour for fine tuning."  
  
Carolyn nodded as she headed for the keyboard. "Sounds good. Athos?"  
  
From behind the drum kit, Elenni nodded as well. "Yep. Great. Intro to 'Melancholy Angel'." The shaggy-haired drummer turned and sneered at her friend. "There. I got it right."  
  
Both the guitarist and keyboardist muttered in unison, ".For once."  
  
Carolyn turned and bowed to the percussionist. "Lead us off, Macduff!"  
  
Outside.  
  
Sephiroth stepped back from the window that he was gazing into. He shook his head and gazed into the darkness enveloping the vast and crowded city. Aqua lights, fueled by the production of Mako energy, winked on, bathing all in an otherworldly glow.  
  
As he stood contemplating the great city of Midgar, the swordsman lifted one alabaster hand, and scratched the back of his head in a strangely familiar gesture. For a long time he stood, turning the events over in his mind, and seeking an explanation for them.  
  
An hour had passed when he finally came to a conclusion, which in reality was no real conclusion. He leaned against the building, its cold masonry leeching away his body heat, and spoke aloud. "Musicians are vulnerable to bizarre behavior. Musicians from other worlds would be even more so. I am just going to play this one by ear." Sephiroth trailed off as a passer-by dressed in Shin-Ra uniform offered him a very odd look.  
  
In response, Sephiroth shrugged and gave him an uncharacteristic grin. Offset, perhaps, by Sephiroth's horrible grin, the Shin-Ra employee's limpid eyes widened perceptibly, then, he hurried on his way.  
  
An instant later, Sephiroth's grin dissolved, and he silently glided into the nightclub.  
  
One city block away from the club.  
  
Vincent Valentine was proudly leading the group of eight down the cheerfully lit streets of Upper Midgar. Nothing out of the ordinary occurred on their way to the club, except for a few fearful glances from some bystanders dressed in Shin-Ra uniform. For some inexplicable reason, these glances gave Vincent, who was normally as emotionless as an undertaker, a strange feeling of disquiet. He attempted to ignore it and listen to Yuffie's off-key bellowing, but the feeling persisted.  
  
Just as Cloud and Cait Sith began to join Yuffie in a reprise to abrade the nerves of anyone with half a musical ear, and Tifa began to whine about her feet, the octet rounded a corner to find themselves in front of a stone building labeled "Indigo Blues".  
  
Nanaki padded up to where Vincent stood, and announced glibly, "It appears that we have arrived."  
  
Yuffie stopped singing with Cait Sith, and elbowed Cloud, who was about to walk in to the mountainous Barret. Once Cloud was aware of his surroundings, he began to cheer with Cait Sith and the ever-hyper Yuffie.  
  
Inside.  
  
Nicki was wrapping up a guitar solo, and handing it off to the keyboardist, Carolyn. Once her friend had a firm grip on the melody, and she was just playing chords, Nicki looked up. She spotted the tall man dressed in unrelieved black clothing, with silver hair loose, falling to his waist, standing silent in the middle of the dance floor. Stepping away from the microphone, she shouted to him, "Hey, Mister! The place is closed to the public, right now!"  
  
The man continued to stand, wordlessly watching the trio's performance and did not acknowledge that he was spoken to.  
  
Seeing no reaction from the stranger, Nicki shook her head and muttered to herself, "Wadda weirdo." She then went back to her music.  
  
After the girls finished their song, Carolyn, who had noticed the newcomer's sudden appearance at the same time her friend did. "Hey, man," she began, directly addressing the stranger in black. "Ya know, Indigo Blues isn't open at the moment. If you wanna. Ooof!" the girl had no time to complete her sentence, for she and her two friends were knocked unconscious by an invisible blow.  
  
The mighty godlet Sephiroth loped leisurely up to where his prizes lay. As he reached the stage, the front doors opened, and to his surprise, in walked Vincent, Nanaki, and Cloud, followed closely by Yuffie, Tifa, Barret, Cait Sith, and Cid. The serpentine warrior growled his frustration, as Vincent quickly drew his gun and began to fire. With a rare smirk, Sephiroth motioned, and in a flash of light, he and the three musicians vanished.  
  
Vincent, his red eyes glittering dangerously, betraying his fury, holstered his revolver, as Cloud began to mutter, "Damnit, Sephiroth."  
  
Later, somewhere near Hojo's Lab.  
  
Three musicians lay sprawled upon three narrow cots in a tiny, gray cell. Dim, gray, winter sunlight streamed through a narrow window, glinting dully in the iron bars.  
  
On the cot beneath the little window, Nicki returned to consciousness, and began to slowly open her gray eyes. "Oh, ow. Light." she groaned. "Oh, my poor."  
  
"Head." Carolyn finished for her. She too, had just awakened. "Oh, jeez. I feel."  
  
"Hung over." Elenni supplied, moaning. "What the Hell happened?"  
  
Carolyn squinted her eyes, and attempted to sit up without jarring her head, but gave it up for a lost cause. "Argh." She answered. "I'd tell you, but it hurts too much to think." She moved a little upon the cot, causing it to creak loudly. The noise drilled itself in to the skulls of all three girls, compounding their misery.  
  
"Oh, why'd ya have to go and do that?!" Elenni whined, her maltreated head throbbing.  
  
Trying not to move and make her head ache worse, Carolyn replied, "Sorry. Didn't mean to!"  
  
"That's awright." Nicki said softly, as she tried to roll over, but abandoned the project once her head began to throb. "But anyways, I think I know what happened."  
  
"Really? Wow!" replied Elenni, attempting to sound awe-struck, but due to her pounding migraine, she succeeded only in sounding sarcastic.  
  
"Yes, really." the white haired guitarist informed the ceiling. "I remember that we were at the solo in 'Vampire Blues', and this long-haired weirdo shows up outta nowhere. I yelled that the place was closed, but 'e didn't pay any attention. After we finished, Carolyn started to yell at 'im too, but everything went black."  
  
"Yeah. Okay, but why did everything go black?" Elenni demanded softly.  
  
"Because of the LONG-HAIRED WEIRDO!!" Nicki exclaimed, wincing in pain as she did so.  
  
"Hey. Uh, Porthos, could you scream a little quieter? My headache was going away." moaned Carolyn, throwing her left arm over her eyes to shut out the annoying, weak sunlight. Her friend apologized meekly, and Carolyn replied, "That's okay, but I think Athos means what did the guy do to knock us out like that."  
  
Nicki shut her eyes, and pressed her calloused palms to her temples. "I don't know." she complained.  
  
The three girls lay in silence for a long time, while the shooting pain behind their eyes subsided. Suddenly, slow, shuffling footsteps echoed past the little cell in which they were locked. After a few seconds, the footsteps stopped, and a thin, rasping, wavering tenor wafted through the thick mahogany door that led to the cell. "Ladies, are you awake?"  
  
Nicki sat up too quickly, and for a moment her head swam. "Hurk?" she asked eloquently as she shook her head to clear it.  
  
"Hurk?" repeated Carolyn, still lying prone. "What kinda question is 'Hurk'?"  
  
"A very good one." Nicki retorted, as dull sunlight reflected in the glasses that peered through the tiny, barred window set in the ominous door.  
  
"Awake and well, I see." murmured the quivering tenor.  
  
At the sound of the strange voice, Carolyn bolted upright, smoothed back her red hair, and demanded, "Hurk?"  
  
"I told you it was a good question." Nicki replied, quietly, but triumphant.  
  
Carolyn shook her head. "Someone's at the door."  
  
"Oh. I knew that." The guitarist looked over at her other friend. "Athos answer the door."  
  
"What's wrong with you?"  
  
"You're closer."  
  
Grumbling, Elenni stumbled over to the massive door. She raised herself up on the balls of her feet, and peered out the little window. After a moment, she sank back on her feet, and turned to face her companions. "Oh, its jus' this scientist-lookin' dude, whose eyes got real big behind his glasses when he saw me lookin' at 'im." the shaggy haired percussionist told her audience coolly.  
  
From the other side of the door, the girls heard the harsh tenor as the girl spoke. "Holyohmygod!" This was followed by a loud, dull thump.  
  
Inside the chamber, the three girl musicians began to giggle, which evolved into gales of laughter. Then, suddenly serious, the red-head of the group frowned. "Hey, why exactly are we laughing anyhow?" Her good, but ill- timed question resulted in a new onslaught of hyena-like howls.  
  
Back at Indigo Blues..  
  
"What the ^$%$@$^)#%(@#$%@#$^%$@)%@%#&*^@((&#%_)*#$%^#$^  
  
%&#%^#*$%^)(%@%@$&*(#$%^#$&*%^*#$%^(@%$_) was THAT?!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
"Cid, is that really necessary?" The cantankerous pilot glared at Tifa, who was in just as much a shock but handling it in a surprisingly more mature way.  
  
Cloud in the meanwhile was staring at where the green-eyed megalomaniac had been only minutes before. "That was Sephiroth..wasn't it?"  
  
What on the Planet could he have wanted with them? They were harmless musicians! A little different albeit.. Vincent thoughts were puzzled and conflicting as he searched around the newly vacant stage for any clues as to his musical friends' whereabouts. And Sephiroth..sacrifice?! No, no..he wouldn't bother with that...would he? By Arthur!!!!!!!  
  
"Anything?" The red-eyed man looked down at where Nanaki was pawing up the stage. Slowly, he shook his head to which the red-furred monster replied with a weary sigh. "Why, I wonder..."  
  
"I've been asking myself the same question."  
  
Together, the two friends searched around the deserted platform, though they both figured that there was in truth no point. "Do you think." Nanaki eventually broached, "that maybe someone else is involved? That he's not just working alone?"  
  
For a time, the dark-garbed man was silent. "I guess. He's never thought for himself thus far. I'd doubt he'd try or even be able to now."  
  
"And by that you mean..?"  
  
"Well, think about it. For the beginning of his miserable life, every move was controlled to a tee by the Shin-Ra. Then, he came in contact with that wretched virus and until we apparently destroyed him...and there's a factor, she controlled him."  
  
The red-furred one nodded approvingly. "Good point..and what about him being alive? What do you make of that?"  
  
"I'm not sure that's him." Vincent replied. "Not the real him, I mean...maybe a clone..and if not, then somebody with extremely good healing skills brought him back."  
  
"Jenova?" Nanaki suggested, sniffing strongly at a speck of dirt on the floor.  
  
"She seemed pretty dead to me..but who knows. Maybe. ...or.." A horrid thought came to his mind. "Maybe..it's a human......"  
  
"Like Hojo.." Red's statement finished the other's. "Maybe even the man.if you can call him that, himself." The eyes of both beings met, mirroring the horror and disgust.  
  
"Hey! Guys! Is that a private party, or can anyone play?" Cait's forever happy voice called up.  
  
A little irritated, the red-furred one turned and sighed. "We're just trying to find any clue we can."  
  
The little cat raised a brow, well, would've if he'd had one. "Like what? A big piece of paper saying, Ahem, This kidnapping was committed by Sephiroth, 542 Greenview Rd, Kalm?"  
  
"You can stow your sarcasm." Vincent growled flipping through some sheet music on a stand. One of the papers slipped out of the mess and drifted onto his boot. Groaning, he bent to pick it up, then stopped dead. "Guys...?" He said in a near whisper.  
  
Back in the mysterious lab place thingy-ma-bobber  
  
The girls were chatting aimlessly as Carolyn concentrated on using a pair of pliers that Nicki had buried in her endless pockets to wrench out the screws of the window. So far, her success was limited. A harsh knock on the door halted their activities, and creating an effect much like that of a deer in the headlights. The pliers immediately found a haven as a hair decoration in the huge bun that the girl had made make-shiftily with some string to hold it.  
  
"Yeah?" Nicki was first to talk.  
  
The door slowly creaked open, til it hit the wall with a loud bang. Silhouetted in the doorway stood two figures, one tall with long hair, thick, and flowing, the other short, balding, and rather greasy. "Yes..yes, perfect...." the shorter one was muttering to himself.  
  
"What's perfect?" Elenni interrupted his mantra with an impish grin. "I mean, I know we are, but what in particular?"  
  
"Hush!" Nicki hissed.  
  
Carolyn, in the meanwhile, turned and with her eyes huge, blue, and like a Basset Hound's said, "Please, sir, what is it that you want with us? You aren't going to harm us, are you?"  
  
A short, sharp bark that served as a laugh apparently emanated from the short man. "Harm such marvelous specimens like you?! Of course not!!!!!!!!!" Then, quickly becoming intense, he stared deeply into the red-head's eyes to a point where she could not help but cringe. "As for what I want..that's simple. What's the secret to get to other realms?"  
  
At Indigo Blues  
  
"So..it's a piece of paper in that girl's handwriting." Yuffie said as she stared at the messy-at-some-places-and-beautiful-and-slightly-norse- or-just-plain-weird-in-other-places script that Vincent said belonged to Carolyn. "So what?"  
  
"Well, READ it!" growled Barret. "Sayz..something about "Open portal to..to...Damn! I can't read that chickin scratchz!"  
  
"It says, "Open portal to any class M planet." Vincent sighed. "And above this.." He flipped the sheet over. "See here? 'Open portal leading to Corner of 234 Shin-Ra blvd and Rufus Rd.'..and here, in the corner...'Open portal leading to Indigo Blues'. Looks like some sort strange spell.."  
  
"Oh puhleeze!!!!!!" Cid rolled his eyes. "Crazy looking girls warping through worlds by writing on scraps of #$%#&*%# paper?! This ain't a sci-fi movie, y'know!"  
  
"Yes!" the red-eyed man interrupted. "But if someone got word of it, maybe they'd want to get the knowledge of this supposed gift from the girls.and therefore...abducted them..."  
  
"And who the #$(*^%#* would be stupid enough to do that?!"  
  
"Wouldn't be stupid." Nanaki interjected. "Someone had to revive Sephiroth...unless he's doing this himself."  
  
"Damnit, Sephiroth!" Cloud muttered for the 400th time that 1\2 hour.  
  
"Certainly," the red-furred one continued. "I wouldn't put it past him to do such a thing. If he believed that there was a way to escape this planet on which he's prosecuted, then I think he'd do anything possible to take that chance."  
  
"Whatever the case," Vincent murmured. "We still need to rescue them.before something horrible happens." For a rare occurrence, the group all agreed.  
  
"So now the question is." Cait meowled, "Where are they?"  
  
Yuffie scratched her chin. "Lezzeeeeeeeee..if I was an ex- megalomaniac nutcase, where would I take three hostages? Hm.... A broken down Mako Reactor?"  
  
Tifa shrugged. "Or maybe Neibelheim Mansion?"  
  
"As people are now turning it into a huge library and university complex, I doubt it..." the dark-garbed gunslinger retorted. "Maybe some cave...the Mythril Mines, or somewhere in the Coral or Neibel mountains..."  
  
"There are lotsa wildernesses in Wutai!" Yuffie suggested.  
  
Cait chimed in. "And the Great Desert is certainly not going to attract the attention of any humans!"  
  
"And islands! Lotsa those that aint been even 'scovered yet!"  
  
"Or they could be right here, in the bowls of Midgar." Tifa finished. "This metropolis is so huge and on so many levels..they could be right under our noses, but how easy we could miss them!"  
  
"In other words..." Nanaki said quickly before more places could be barraged upon the numb minds. "Anywhere." The group nodded.  
  
"Searching for a mini-screw in a drawer of nails." Cid alluded as he puffed on his cancer stick.  
  
Silently, Vincent stood and made his way back over to the stage, which shone eerily in the lights that should have been illuminating the performers and not their shadows. Mounting the slight platform, his keen eyes scanned over everything once more, looking for anything and nothing. Then he noticed near the drum set where the final fade out had occurred, a small speck of something. Bending down, he saw a miniscule clod of dirt from the shoes of someone. The clumped soil was as dark as night and had a peculiar smell. "Hey, Nanaki! C'mere a minute!"  
  
"What?" the lionish-wolfish-thing inquired as he sprinted over, the rest of the group standing slowly and moving over to hover.  
  
"You've got a good sense of smell. Can you pinpoint from where that's from?" The red-eyes shone with hope.  
  
For a minute or so, Nanaki could just stare at him, but not wanting to crush the man more than he'd been, he complied. Much to his surprise, the scent was very recognizable. An aroma of death, pain, mystery, with a hint of magic.. nothing could smell the same as the soil of the North Crator.  
  
The Lab place  
  
"Secret to what?" Elenni retorted with a scoff after they'd all three recovered from their shock.  
  
"For traveling from realm to realm!" the scientist-person growled. "I know you three aren't native to this planet! I see it in your eyes!"  
  
Nicki blinked. "And what is that to mean, precisely?"  
  
Though none of the trio could see the expression on the man's face clearly, they knew it was one of disgust and annoyance. "Well, who here ever heard of grey eyes? Or of eyes that change colour! Or of.well, ok so we've heard of your eye colour, you with the braid.but those two..especially you!" He turned and stared at Carolyn who blinked, her eyes as blue as ever.  
  
"Whatcha mean?"  
  
"They change! Look at them! Havn't you?!"  
  
The girl continued to stare at him, then eventually turned to her companions. "Um...guys? Do my eyes change colours?"  
  
Elenni grinned. "If you wore those funky lenses, sure!"  
  
"Lenses?!!" The scientist person interrupted.  
  
The braided girl stifled the temptation to roll her eyes. "Y'know, contact lenses?" He obviously didn't. "They're little lenses you put on your eyes to improve your vision without glasses."  
  
The little man was immediately intrigued. "And how do you make them?!"  
  
"How the heck would I know?! I'm no Optician!"  
  
This clearly angered the man, but he seemed to justify it somehow. "Well," he finally muttered, reminding the trio not a little of an irritated bird or ruffled peacock. "You have now though given me enough proof that you're not of this world. So, unless you'd like to have it pulled out of you bit by bit, you three had best tell me HOW to get from world to world!" In the dim light, gooey, yellowish eyes glinted along with the crooked and rotting teeth to create a truly horrifying image.  
  
On the Highwind  
  
"And what if we're completely off course?" Barret inquired of Vincent who was at his usual spot by a little used instrument panel.  
  
"So what if we are? We have to follow what clues we can, right?" The bulky man rolled his eyes.  
  
"I keep wondering about the people who own the club. I hope those 'They could maybe, possibly, hopefully be Giants' backups could make it."  
  
"Damnit, Sephiroth.." Cloud muttered to himself from where he stood at the bow of the ship.  
  
In the Shin-Ra Tower  
  
Still in her TURKs' uniform, Elena crept cautiously to the door of the presidential suite. She had information for her boss that she knew he would greatly dislike. She trembled a bit as she rapped gently on the great, carved teak door. "Um. Mister Boss President Rufus Shin-Ra?"  
  
"Go away!" came the muffled reply.  
  
The reply being a direct order, the blond almost followed it, but at the last moment decided against it. "But, sir! I have important information for you!"  
  
The huge door opened, and out leaned Rufus, himself, with his blond locks stuffed up in a shower cap, and a snow-white towel wrapped around his pale body. "What is it, Elena?" he hissed, greatly annoyed.  
  
"Um." she stuttered, cowed by her boss' anger. "Sir, word has reached us, that the new bad.. I mean band. at Club Indigo Blues cannot make their show tonite, and 'They Could Maybe Possibly Hopefully Be Giants' are now scheduled to replace them."  
  
The blond president pouted. "Just great. This ruins my whole evening!" With that, he withdrew from the doorway, and slammed the door in the young TURK's face.  
  
Back at the Lab  
  
Elenni was unmoved by the whole display. "Listen, pal. We are so of this world, and you are so out of touch. Contacts are the latest thing in Midgar. Where have you been, pops?"  
  
The other two musicians muttered their agreements, while the strange scientist's irritation grew, giving him the appearance of a wet peacock. "You are not of this world!" he insisted, as he began to pace with a slow limping, shuffle step. "Now, tell me what I want to know!!"  
  
Meanwhile, the perturbed professor's companion seemed unaffected. He seemed a man of marble, watching the other sufficiently loose his temper. Intense green eyes studied a spot of dust on the wall as he tried his best to ignore the heated conversation trying to take place.  
  
"Well.."Carolyn started. "What DO you want to know? How to get to another planet?"  
  
"In essence."  
  
"Simple!" she replied. The corpse-like man, if he could be called that, leaned forward rubbing his hands. "You build a big rocket ship, put yourself in a sleep machine that keeps you from aging during the really long trip, and go for about 50 years till you reach the planet!" She grinned catlike as steam began to fly from the enraged scientist's ears.  
  
"Or.." Nicki cut in. "You can sprinkle yourself with pixie dust and think happy thoughts then fly first star to the right and straight on til morning."  
  
Elenni couldn't resist the joke. "Yeah, or you can warp speed, full ahead!!"  
  
The trio broke down in giggles as the tormented one screamed and banged his head against the wall. Then, with Hellfire glinting through the brimstone of his eyes he spun and glared at the man behind him. "These clowns must be tortured if we're to get anything serious from them!" he spat in rage.  
  
"Wait, wait!!!" Nicki managed to stammer out between chuckles. "Really, we don't know anything!"  
  
"Yeah! We really don't! We're just a group of crazy musician girls trying to make a buck!" Carolyn added. "No need to torture us. You probably just have the wrong people..Hey! GET AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The red-head swung out mercilessly with a right hook as the monstrous man-thing leapt towards her, a huge syringe in his hand. Her punch knocked his head sideways, but much to the disgust of the girls, it spun completely around and before Carolyn could swing again or anyone else could react, he'd plunged the needle right into her neck. The girl let out a screech and tried to wrench away the leprous hands, one of which held her neck steady with abnormal strength, the other which held the syringe as decayed teeth pushed the plunger inducing a clear liquid into the unfortunate's bloodstream.  
  
"What the...Lyn!!!!!!!" Nicki and Elenni lunged forward at the same time but were suddenly slung back by strong hands and seconds later, an impossibly long katana was at their throats. The green eyes of their captor gazed at them with indifference as his master's legs cracked horridly against the sharp kicks of his victim. But Lady Luck was on his side. The young woman could not withstand the merciless tranquilizer and with every heartbeat, her strength ebbed, and as the syringe finally emptied, she passed out.  
  
"THE HECK YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!!!!!!!!!" Elenni screamed at the men. "YOU'LL KILL HER! WE HAVE FRIENDS HERE, Y'KNOW!!!!!!!!!!! POWERFUL FRIENDS!!!!!!!!!!!!'  
  
The scientist yanked the needle from the vein with a rude jerk. Blood spurted from the wound for a second before the Cure 3 materia put an end to it. "I'm sure you do." he muttered sarcastically in response to Elenni's question.  
  
"Yeah! We do!!!!!!!!!!!" Nicki cried, with less volume but equal force. "We're good friends with both AVALANCHE and Shin-Ra!!!"  
  
This last statement obviously caused a stir at first as the eyes of both men fastened on the duo. But shrewdness took over. "Ah, of course. So does everyone. Son, get the girl. We need to run those tests.."  
  
"TESTS?!!!!!!!!!" Elenni stood up suddenly, but the blade of the sword quickly reseated her.  
  
Nicki glared at him. "What tests?!!!!!!!"  
  
The sulfur-fed fires of Hades were lit anew in Hojo's pus-yellow eyes as he contemplated his future actions, and laughed. Underneath the madman's mirth, smoother than silk, and barely loud enough for the captive musicians to hear, a baritone of brown velvet whispered, "Don't worry. The preliminary tests shouldn't hurt her."  
  
"SHOULDN'T?!" exclaimed the guitarist as she started, and nicking herself on the sword blade in the process. Nicki glanced at the scientist to see if he noticed her undue reaction, but he cackled on, oblivious to everything. She then looked back down at the weapon, as the blood from her minor wound soaked into the strange, bespelled steel. "Shouldn't leaves room for possibility." she whispered back as the other, conscious girl nodded her agreement.  
  
For a long moment, there was only silence, broken by the fading guffaws of a madman. At last, the baritone spoke harshly to the scientist. "We need to move the girl before the tranquilizers wear off."  
  
Hojo expressed one last time his amusement before finally composing himself. "Right. Sephiroth, take the girl to one of the specimen observation cells, then come back here and guard the door."  
  
The serpentine owner of the baritone voice rolled his bright emerald eyes, and resheathed his sword. With great annoyance, he lifted the fallen musician, and carried her out of the room, followed by his broadly grinning master.  
  
Back on the Highwind.  
  
"Well, there it is." Cid muttered as a huge whole in the otherwise white ground before the airship appeared. "North Crater."  
  
"Damnit, Sephiroth."  
  
"Cloud, will you please STOP SAYING THAT?!" The blond turned, large eyed, to Tifa. "It's so annoying!"  
  
"...Damnit, Sephiroth!!!."  
  
In the Shin-Ra Tower.  
  
"Sir..?" Reno started hesitantly over the intercom. For a few moments there was no reply, but then Rufus's familiar growl camed over the electronic miracle. "Sir? I was told to notify you that the Highwind is in motion, Sir?"  
  
"Yeah? So?"  
  
"Well.." The Turk coughed, a bit nervously. "You said earlier, Sir, when we you had recovered from you coma, to report on any suspicious actions of AVALANCHE." Not wanting to admit his humanity, an arrogant sniff was the only reply from Rufus. "Er..anyhow, the whole slew of them is headed at top speed for the North Crater."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Well, quite frankly, sir...we don't know..."  
  
"If you don't know all the important details," the president's voice growled menacingly. "Then DON'T BOTHER ME!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
"Y-yessir! Sorry.." The intercom beeped off. "Sir.."  
  
Somewhere...  
  
"Beep...Beep.....Beep..Beep.." The annoying, perfectly rhythmical sound followed the exact movements of the strange pendulum-like rod that blocked the way for the red-head, who as of the moment stood on a bone- strewn plane, knowing that her adversaries were coming from behind, and were going to do unspeakable things unto her if their filthy hands ever touched her skin...No, she'd not let them. She dived forward past the blades, and painfully, into consciousness.  
  
Harsh and bright halogen lights assaulted her now-sensitive eyes as she opened them. With a soft moan, she shifted a bit, and realized she was strapped to a hard, cold surface, with wires taped to her limbs. The musician's head began to distantly throb as she stared up at the ceiling. How am I going to get out of this one? she thought. The ceiling held no answers for her, so she closed her eyes against the halogen glare, as the chemicals she had been forcibly injected with pulled her from consciousness.  
  
Nearby.  
  
Sephiroth settled into a less than comfortable chair to the right of the door he was to watch over. He was reminded once more of how much he hated guard duty as a cadet. Recent events had also reminded him of how much he hated to be at the beck and call of an incompetent master. The snake-like ex-SOLDIER silently fumed as he methodically began to polish his sword, a chore that usually calmed him. This time, the task made him more and more irritable.  
  
That retch completely mishandled the prisoners, he thought, internalizing a snarl. He shouldn't of lost his temper; he shouldn't have resorted to torture, and most of all, he shouldn't have used so much of that tranquilizer! A couple cubic centimeters of Sodium Penithal would have gotten the information he wanted without resorting to. to. Sephiroth cringed, knowing in every excruciating detail what the madman Hojo was going to do to his captive, otherworldly music-makers. To unplesantries. That idiot is completely out of touch with the modern scientific world and should have never been brought back. I wonder if there's any way for me to help these girls and for Hojo to get his damned information.  
  
Finally, the warrior completed his self-appointed task, and resheathed his katana with a sigh.  
  
And what if what those girls say is true? What if they really DON'T know anything? This though, the warrior found rather difficult to believe. The trio was the strangest people he'd ever met. They didn't look like anyone else, talk like anyone else, or wear the typical clothing of the area. That, though, wasn't all together convincing. They were musicians, after all. At this thought, a small grin played on the warrior's lips, but it quickly vanished as terrified screams began echoing off the walls. Immediately on his feet, he followed the anguishing noise to another cell. The source was the results of another, abandoned experiment. Although the door to this particular unit was closed and locked, the poor creature's misery was overwhelmingly evident. If he didn't intervene, Sephiroth knew that that was how that strange trio was going to end up. This isn't right. he thought dejectedly. But what can I do? I'm his property.his own.......flesh... A disgusted shudder raced down the man's spine. I owe him my very existence....but what do I owe to the world?  
  
Highwind  
  
"Ok.." Nanaki began. "Here's the plan!" So saying, Vincent pulled a huge map over the table. "We are here..." the creature pointed with a claw. "The best estimate we have of the lab's position would be in the dead center of the crater, where we defeated Sephiroth.originally." There were nods around the table. "We feel that, as before, we should split into groups of four, each taking a path, and we can meet up in the middle. If we come across any problems, we have the PHS's to utilize."  
  
"Um..." Tifa started. "We can't use the phones without a special place of no interference, y'know.one of those nifty crystal question mark thingies..."  
  
A smug grin showed the red-furred one's long canines. "Ah, but I have a solution to that! Miss Kisargi?"  
  
Giggling, the youthful ninja withdrew from her satchel, 8 identical lavender hued crystals. "We two created these materia in our lab..rather, he did all the thinking and I did the..er..scouting! Yeah!!"  
  
So dats where ma Odin summon went.. Barret grumbled to himself, but stayed silent.  
  
"Anyhow, these all too nifty thingies are like that totally weird save crystal we had in North Crater that first time...er, second rather, but whatever. The big thing is that they act like materia, able to level up thus improving the PHS's range, and they can be used an unlimited number of times!!!!" As the congregation ooed and ahhed, she giggled privately. And I bet I can make a fortune off of them too...  
  
"Very good!" the leader of the meeting exclaimed as each of the group snatched up a materia. "Anyways, we'll split up here. Please make a party of four!"  
  
Cloud for the first time didn't say his refrain. "I'm with Tifa, Yuffie, and..um................oh, I'll take Cait."  
  
"I feel so loved!!!!!!!" the trio said in unintentional unison.  
  
"Which path will you take?" the red-furred one inquired.  
  
"Path?"  
  
"Right or left?"  
  
"..duh...."  
  
Yuffie interrupted. "We'll take the left path, ok Cloud?!"  
  
"Um..uh..sure............Damn, Sephiroth.."  
  
"I told you to stop saying that!" exclaimed Tifa, irritably. She then proceeded to kick the vacant-eyed blond, which sent him flying across the room.  
  
Back near the lab.  
  
With a despairing sigh, the black-garbed fighter returned to his chair. What do I owe a world that has scorned me, feared me, and otherwise turned its back on me? But it is also a world that nurtured me, gave my soul substance. For a few moments, he lost himself in vague, distant memories of the joys of being alive. The wind, the sun, even fighting in the rain was a wonderful change of pace from the despondency of Midgar. All of that and more would be at stake if those girls really are from another realm of existence.  
  
Muffled noises emanating from the cell shook him out of his meditations. He stood up, and listened carefully to the mutterings muted by the heavy door. "Shoot! There's no lock plate on this side of the door!" grumbled a voice.  
  
"Can you still break us outta here? Carolyn's in trouble!" a slightly hysterical second voice exclaimed.  
  
"Not with a paperclip and a screwdriver. A chainsaw on the other hand." the first voice answered, pitched slightly high with annoyance.  
  
Sephiroth smiled to himself. He knew well that old Bugenhagen, himself, designed those doors for the use in Shin-Ra's prisons. The captives would never be able to open this door, but he certainly could. In one fluid motion, he did so, catching the two inside by surprise.  
  
"ACK! DON'T TORTURE US TOO!!!!!!!!!!" the shaggy haired one shrieked, half covering her suddenly pale face with both hands. "WE'RE TOO YOUNG TO DIE!!!!!!!!"  
  
The tall warrior tried his best to hide a smile that came not only from the hilarity of the situation from his view but from excitement as well. This was the first time he'd ever done anything against the will of his superiors.excepting when he'd gone insane of course, but that had in truth been more the work of Jenova than his own decisions. "I'm not going to kill you, nor even allow that kook to touch you." he said once he finally gained his composure. The girls stared at him in shock. "I want to help you..I've..I've had enough of Hojo and all of his crack-pot theories and inhumane experiments."  
  
There were a tense few minutes. Finally, the other girl spoke, eyeing the man's sword warily. "This isn't a set up, is it?" Vehemently, the man shook his head. "..Can we trust you?"  
  
"Do you have a choice?" The reply was brutally short and to the point.  
  
The girls looked at each other then back at him. It was the shaggy haired one who at last stepped tentatively forward. "Hi. I'm Elenni." she said.  
  
The Right Path.  
  
"Whad if weez wrong 'bout dis and all dis iz some plan to get uz outta da houz? Whaddl happen ta Marlene if deyz come and tryz to take herzaway?" Barret complained as he reloaded his gunarm.  
  
"Yeah, that's a good #$^#*% point!" Cid added as he finished his victory cigarette. Contemptuously, he tossed the smoking butt onto the corpse of the Dragon Zombie that Vincent had slain with a single Phoenix Down. "I mean, maybe there's a *(#$%^@%$* conspiracy, y'know, like in Space $@^#*%) Cowboys!"  
  
"Space What?!"  
  
"Space $@^#*%) Cowboys, the best #$^@#$ movie yet!" Cid exclaimed angrily glaring at Nanaki. "It's all about me!"  
  
"Oh. I should've known.."  
  
"I strongly doubt that Sephiroth even knows where our hideout is." Vincent interrupted as he continued down the path. As the others caught up, he continued. "Besides, its not us he's after."  
  
"How do you @#&^%$* know?" demanded Cid, as he reached into the pocket of his pants for another cigarette.  
  
"He was surprised and angry when we interrupted his kidnapping." Came the cool answer, completely baffling his comrades.  
  
In the Shin-Ra building.  
  
It was on the sixty-first floor employee lounge where Rude decided to eat his lunch. Admittedly, it wasn't really lunchtime, but since his job was a twenty-four hour one, that didn't matter. Besides, he was hungry. He crossed the room, receiving blessedly few strange looks from other employees, and chose a seat amongst an incredibly large group of gossiping secretaries. He sat down and prepared to give his food the attention it deserved, but was distracted by a snippet of conversation.  
  
".He was incredibly dangerous looking, dressed all in black like that, but with that long silver hair, and green eyes. wow, what a hunk!" breathed an embarrassingly over-endowed blond.  
  
Dimly recognizing the description, the bald TURK chewed his sandwich thoughtfully and continued to listen, hoping for some useful information.  
  
A mousy looking woman with wire-rimmed glasses perched on her nose leaned forward and asked, "So, where did you see this guy, Mihoshi?"  
  
Mihoshi turned her wide blue eyes to her fellow staff member. "Well, Neoni, I saw him as I was passing that new club on the way to work."  
  
Rude calmly polished off his lunch with a swig of soda, and stood up. He made his way quickly to one of the elevators, and pressed the button for one of the upper floors. The fact that Sephiroth was alive, and had been in Midgar would interest his boss to no end.  
  
Near Hojo's Laboratory.  
  
".And this is Nicki." the brown-haired percussionist finished, gesturing in the direction of the other girl, who was holding a paperclip and a tiny, jeweler's screwdriver menacingly.  
  
Sephiroth raised one elegant, ironic eyebrow at the miniscule implements. "What exactly are you planning to do with those, Miss Nicki?"  
  
She looked down at the little tools in her hand and felt utterly foolish. They certainly would not be much help if the man in black suddenly decided to attack her and Elenni. As soon as this thought crossed her mind, the paperclip and the screwdriver disappeared.  
  
The unexpected ally nodded with satisfaction. "I am Sephiroth. Now, if you will follow me, I will find you some decent weapons." He trailed off as a strange, half-human scream of triumph echoed from outside the walls of the prison, and rattled the nerves of those inside. The warrior's confidence suddenly bottomed out. "I could use some backup." he finished, looking over his shoulder at the open portal, half expecting Hojo to walk in.  
  
The Left Path.  
  
Cloud blinked slowly in bewilderment at the strange, turtle-like creature as it paced back and forth with a glowing lantern. The funny little animal had just leveled a nasty little spell at the quartet, but it just clanged against the group's shields, and fell flat.  
  
"Whoa! What a nasty little bugger!" Cait Sith exclaimed, nearly falling off his moogle in shock at the sudden hostile action from a harmless looking thing.  
  
"Yeah!" Yuffie agreed just before she commenced her attack on the odd monstrosity. "These weren't here the last time we were here!"  
  
"Oh, yes they were." corrected Tifa as she took her turn. "We just didn't encounter any." With one last punch from the woman, the amphibian- like enemy collapsed in a heap, stone dead.  
  
Again, Cloud blinked his turquoise eyes at the lifeless heap that once was the group's opponent. ".Damnit, Sephiroth." he muttered at it.  
  
Once again, near the Lab.  
  
Elenni and Nicki's newest ally had led them to a nearby storage room, filled with different odds and ends. Among the stuff stashed in the tiny, closet-like enclosure was a pile of weapons. It was this that Sephiroth had gestured at when he said, "Find yourselves something, while I dig up some armor." He then turned away, leaving the two girls to contemplate the mound.  
  
"So, what are you going to choose?" the white-haired guitarist asked her companion once the man in black had turned his back.  
  
"I don't know. I've never really fought before. Unless you count with my brother." came the confused reply.  
  
Elenni's comment elicited a reluctant half-smile from her friend as she bent over to retrieve a small katana. It was nowhere near as long as the one Sephiroth wielded, but it was close enough to the bamboo practice swords that the white-haired girl had used in the carefully controlled dance of her Kendo classes to make her feel comfortable. Underneath the blade, she found what appeared to be a custom-made Colt '45, and a pair of gloves with sharp claws extending from where the knuckles would go. Nicki picked up the gun, and tossed it to Elenni. "Here."  
  
The other girl caught the barrel of the firearm, and held it with her pinky in the air. "What am I supposed to do with this?" The only response Elenni received was a disgusted look from her friend as she bent down to pick up the strange gloves. "I mean, do we really have to fight? I have a tendency to faint at the sight of blood."  
  
Nicki snorted, and hung the weird gloves from a belt loop.  
  
"And another thing," the other girl continued. "What do you need those for?"  
  
"For Carolyn. I'm sure she'd want a piece of that joker."  
  
Elenni scoffed at this statement. "I doubt she'd be in any shape to fight."  
  
"That's easily remedied, Miss Elenni." intruded a strange baritone voice. The two girls spun around in time to see Sephiroth reemerge from a pile of boxes, and toss a glowing, green orb to them. It was the shaggy haired percussionist that caught the ball.  
  
"What's this?" she asked, gazing down at the globe in her hand.  
  
"It is a master Heal materia." the warrior in black replied, looking down at the bracelet-like things in his strong, graceful hands. "You can use it to cure anything that the kook has done to her. Also, you'll need to take one of these." He indicated the bracelet things. "They are a type of armor."  
  
Delicately, both girls plucked the bangles from Sephiroth's grasp. Elenni inspected her's. "Armor? Are you sure?"  
  
"Very sure." was the court reply, as the ex-SOLDIER pulled a red orb from his trench coat-like garment. Shyly, he gazed down at the sullenly glowing sphere. Then, he looked up, and handed it to Nicki. "This is an artificially created summon materia that I call Kali. While it's not the Knights of the Round, it should be very helpful. You can only use it once during a battle, because it hasn't been used much. I don't have use for a summon materia."  
  
Nicki slowly blinked her gray eyes at the darkly gleaming scarlet globe. She hadn't the foggiest idea what the guy was talking about, but she was honored to be given these gifts just the same. Holding the ruby ball away from her, the girl bowed deeply and uttered her thanks. "Domo arigato gozaimasu, sensei."  
  
Sephiroth was both deeply touched and surprised to be thanked and named 'sensei'. A sentimental lump began to form in his throat as he dumbly watched the second girl clumsily mimic her friend's gesture. For some unknown reason, he felt more human in that moment than at any other time during his short, miserable life. He regained his composure and spoke. "Alright, soldiers!" He smiled as he was rewarded with the two, normally impudent musicians snapping to attention. "Get ready, 'cause the walk to the lab is very dangerous!"  
  
"Er..." the shaggy haired one cringed. "What'cha mean by.dangerous?"  
  
"This is the North Crater." he replied. "Home to the most vicious animals on this godforsaken planet."  
  
"Oh joy.." Sainte murmured to herself, then aloud, "Right...then, let's go!"  
  
The Lab  
  
"Soooo..." Carolyn began in a cool and sarcastic manner, a strange but effective way of dealing with this shock that was way over her head. "What'cha doin' now? Gonna make me into a winged monster that's part sphinx, part ogre? Or ya gonna infuse me with Mako juice and Jenova cells.or a combo?" She laughed languidly, not unlike a lush in his element, the drugs wrecking a tranquilizing havoc on her system. "I suppose with you it's a combo. My friends, they told me all about you.you're a real asshole, y'know?" At this, she laughed, though the sound was more like a drunken choke.  
  
From the scientist, if he was even present and listening, there came no reply. The tortured girl snorted. "Typical," she growled darkly then sighed. It was then that her reply came, in the form of a new libation that made her ruined body feel as if it were being held in the corona of Hell's flames.  
  
"Stupid bitch..." Hojo muttered as he administered, through a tube, the antidote to the poison he had introduced, undistilled, into the uncooperative specimen's body. Over a small speaker, he cackled, "Your insolence and wit is unappreciated. If you don't shut up...I'll..." the thought of torturing the girl even more delighted him immensely and he allowed a long, hearty laugh to show it. "I guess I'll have to burn your tongue out with sulfuric acid or some other such pleasant substance!" From the operating table, there came only the sound of heavy, pained breathing.  
  
"Well, then....so tell me about your world?" the scientist began. There was only silence. "Well?!" Storming from his perch at the master controls, he found to his dismay that his subject was unconscious from the pain he had wrought on her. Cursing profusely, he began to administer a hyper but realizing that such would probably kill her declined and instead, in a huff, went into a back room.  
  
He began mixing various chemicals that were located in it. It was then, that a loud siren began to sound, warning of nearby visitors. All his ire at his inconsiderate patient left his mind as new thoughts of pain entered. "Hm.Visitors? ..Interesting.." the insane chuckle echoed through the small room. Fast as lightening, the contents of the tube were exchanged for new, and things more sinister. Then, striking a gas burner, he heated the tube until it repeatedly changed colours.  
  
As the contents blurred into a maize yellow, he carefully allowed into the mixture a single drop of a green liquid. The result was incredible; smoke pouring from the tube following a noise like thunder. "Perfect!" he exclaimed as he clamped onto the tube with a special instrument, raised it to his lips, and drank it down.  
  
The Crater, Left Path  
  
"Damnit, Sephiroth!" Cloud grumbled as he tripped over a rock and sprawled flat on his face. Immediately, his team members rushed to help him, thereby failing to notice the incredible creature that was sneaking up behind them. Watching the pathetic mortals with liquid eyes of an oozy pea green, a dripping fang smirk passed over the scaly mouth of the reptilian horror. A black, pointed tongue zinged to and from the enormous mouth in a sort of macabre ecstasy as its soon-to-be victims moved straight towards its gargantuan claws that they, giddy and excited as they were, most likely presumed as rocks. That, of course, was if they presumed them anything at all.  
  
At last, the intruders came into its reach. Without a sound, the malicious creature glided up behind the group, and with one razor-sharp claw, it slashed at the one closest to it, as the others whirled around in surprise.  
  
"It got Cait!" Yuffie shrieked at the top of her lungs, as the animatronic creature's unfortunate moogle mourned the loss of one arm, and much of its stuffing.  
  
"Huh?" Turning, the blond member of the group nearly met with much the same fate but Tifa, pushing him hard out of the way saved his head, not that it would've been much of a loss. Gaining his bearings, the 'leader' of the group looked up at the monster. "Holy...Damn!" he murmured.  
  
The creature seemed almost to laugh, emitting a raspy, unholy noise from its throat, raising its ugly head to the heavens. Suddenly, with a speed unnatural, the head whipped down and showered all but one of the unfortunates in a burning acid that clung to their bodies like napalm. The last of the 4 had nimbly leapt into a nearby crevice, from where she quickly cast Typhoon, stolen from Cid, on the creature.  
  
Unfortunately, the spell seemed almost to heal the behemoth, and as soon as the wind elemental vanished into its own realm, it attacked the ninja girl with the utmost ferocity.  
  
The Right Path  
  
"Hey foo.waz dat screemin?" The other 3 stopped and turned to Barret. "Thought I.."  
  
"Shsh!" Vincent hissed, cautiously moving over to where the other hulked. After a moment, the red eyes closed in annoyance. "I'd suppose they've run into a Master Tonberry or something."  
  
"Are you sure that's our #$%# group?"  
  
"Yes..." Nanaki answered. "That was most certainly Miss Kisargi.  
  
"Y'know..It doesn't sound @#$&*%$ right when you call that brat by such a *#$%&%$* formal title..."  
  
"Cid! Shuddup, foo!" Although fuming, in multiple ways, the blond man complied with a snort. After a moment of straining their ears, it was Nanaki to speak first.  
  
"Shall we help them?"  
  
"No!" Cid replied bluntly, "But I guess we have to." Barret nodded to this, though the appearance of Vincent's pale face was of a contradictory feeling.  
  
Picking up on his quieter friend's thoughts, the red creature who temporarily had become a sort of leader nodded his shaggy head. "Very well. Cid, Barret.why don't you try to go help the others. Vincent, you and I can continue down this path."  
  
"Wait a minute...Deres only two of you..."  
  
"As there was when we first came to the Crater.if you correctly remember." Barret's face was confused, so Red sighed and explained. "Remember how we took the Left Path before? And Tifa and Yuffie were with Cloud, while you, Cid, and Cait went first, followed by the two of us?"  
  
Recognition finally was realized in the black man's face. "Oh, now I seez whatchoo getting at.yeah, datz kewl. Da sooner we git goin, da better...Cid?"  
  
The pilot puffed decidedly on his cancer stick. "See you #($^(*#$&*#$%*&$% later." he said gruffly as he turned and followed the other man towards the other path.  
  
Near the Lab.  
  
"What was that sound?" Elenni gulped as a scream echoed from somewhere close by.  
  
Sephiroth listened intently for a second, long enough to hear a bestial shriek. "Probably nature taking her course with some of the local 'wild life'," he explained. It was then that a very human cry broke the oppressive silence of the crater again, and the sounds of a battle were audible.  
  
Elenni's eyes grew wide. "A rescue team!" she exclaimed excitedly. "Great!" But their silver haired ally wasn't so optimistic. Trying to encourage a smile to his stoic face, the girl stretched and grinned. "So we have help!"  
  
"You do."  
  
The girls looked at Sephiroth. "What do you mean by that?" Nicki inquired quietly.  
  
He sighed sadly and turned his huge eyes to her. "Thanks to the murders I've committed, the sins I'm responsible for, I've become a feared pariah of society. Someday." His eyes looked towards the heavens, or maybe into a possible future. "Someday I hope to at least make up for this and no longer be held in so low a view.but chances are that that party, if they saw me, would try their damnedest to kill not only me but you two as well..."  
  
The shaggy-haired drummer visibly gulped. "Great..well, then..what are we gonna do?" The cries from beyond the hill suddenly turned to agonized screams and wails.  
  
"Whatever the case, somebody needs help.." Nicki grumbled. After a moments silence, she turned to the silver haired leader. "Shall we?"  
  
"Shall we what?" His retort was blunt.  
  
She narrowed her eyes and cocked her head to one side. "Help them, baka. You want to atone for your wrongdoings. Well, this is one way."  
  
The other girl nodded her head, her hair bouncing in time with her motion. "Yeah!"  
  
Sephiroth did not reply. He strained his ears to hear the screams become more and more despondent. At last he murmured, "Let's go."  
  
In the Lab  
  
It seemed hours since that last bout with..whatever the bastard had injected in her system. Of course, when you're lying on a icy metal operating table, looking like a victim of bad acupuncture with the brightest lights imaginable blaring down on you, time is a hard thing to judge. Carolyn sighed and licked her dry lips. At least that hideous drunken feeling had at last abated, leaving in its place a dull throb in her temples, and an ache in stomach. What HAD he done anyways?  
  
What little she knew about the madman came from her new friend, the stoic and rather gothic looking Vincent Valentine, a victim of the same lunatic himself. This in mind, she could not help but wonder if perhaps he too had undergone many of the same tortures she was now. And after all that, what was Hojo's goal in this? He wanted information about some other world, but the red-head had none to give him. He knew too when she lied, reciting from explicit detail the landscape and manners of various books she'd read, even if she combined so many series into one. To her it seemed he simply wished to inflict pain, to revel in the death throes of some unfortunate, seeming to be her.  
  
A thought suddenly struck her spinning mind; Vincent had told her once of a demon that the madman had bound to him, a monster to which he could transform when enraged. Called chaos, it too only had one goal the dark-haired man had said, and that was to destroy everything. Like her tormentor, Chaos too survived solely on anarchy, pain, anger, and fear. Could the monster be Hojo's own soul?  
  
No...no, she knew now she was truly going mad, as mad as the madman. An old Queen song flitted through her scattered head, and she laughed aloud, a voice tinged with desperation.  
  
Between the Left and Right Path  
  
"Yo foo! Slow up!!!" Barret panted as he stumbled over the rocks. "I h'aint as friggin' young esah used ta be!"  
  
Annoyed, his fellow turned and glared. "Look, bud." he growled, "I'm a %$&* of a lot #$^@%$* older than you are...and I #$^%^&%$* smoke on top of that! You don't have any #$%*%$^&@%$#%$* excuse, y'hear?!"  
  
The bulky man managed to breast the stone hill, panting heavily as his eyes cast hateful, hexed looks at the blond pilot. "Shaddap." he groaned.  
  
Shaking his head, the pilot turned and started to continue on when there was a terrible scream, a girl's cry, echoed by the cry of some monster it seemed. "#$@^*%!" Cid cursed vehemently as he started running towards the sounds.  
  
Behind him, Barret started up and followed quickly as he could. "C'mon, foo! Wait up!!" he yelled after the pilot.  
  
Left Path  
  
"Holy..." Nicki said in a single word what Elenni had said in a single scream. Sephiroth said nothing, letting his infuriated eyes doing the talking.  
  
The monster, whatever it was, was staring at the trio, first in absolute shock, then horrendous fury. The eyes seemed almost as red as the blood that covered the rocks all around as he lunged at them, gore-stained teeth bared.  
  
On reflex, the Nicki one leapt backwards, managing to pull with her the shaggy-haired drummer who was still staring at the mutilated corpse of a young blonde boy, an enormously wide sword held tightly in his hand. Sephiroth also leapt up, but not to the side. Instead he landed firmly on the head of the monster, which he used as a platform to gain an even higher altitude. Snapping and growling horridly, the creature followed after him like a sort of snake! A look of stolid determination on his face, the silver-haired one coolly swept down the long katana, neatly ridding the creature of a nostril. Then, following with a back swing, an ear was rent off just before the infuriated monster's head rammed into the stone, where seconds ago the man had been standing.  
  
Looking about in angry bewilderment, the monster was startled by an explosion, followed by searing pain through his left shoulder, and spinning he was a little surprised to see that the brown haired stranger held a smoking pistol. She seemed as surprised though as the monster and so no time was wasted in his counter attack. In his blood-fever, though, he'd forgotten the other two fighters completely! Only feet away from destroying the insolent pest with Colt, there came a painful stab in his right side that ripped up the height of his belly, followed by a sharp sweep of a sword right in the earlier gun wound. Screaming in agony, the creature swung its huge tail at the right side annoyance, delighting in a pained "Oomph!" as the white haired girl was swatted against the wall.  
  
Then the monster went after the other swordsman, believing the other girl too shell shocked to worry about for the moment..and how useful they might be. He had just maneuvered his massive body around when another pain of the long katana sliced through the back leg, followed by a lightening quick jab to towards the heart that the creature barely writhed away from. Realizing that in pure fighting, he had met his match, the creature began to draw from its other sources of power.  
  
Sephiroth had just huddled back from his last attack, when a sudden jet of white-hot flames surrounded him. So the creature DID have magic! Burnt and not happy about it, the silver-haired gave back a dose of the same, but to his disappointment, the thing was apparently fire based, and so he only succeeded in healing the few wounds already inflicted. "This is not biding well." he thought darkly.  
  
Outside the Lab  
  
"Dearest Gods, what IS going on?!" Nanaki exclaimed as his comrade worked on hotwiring the door pad. "Somebody is sure getting their clock cleaned..."  
  
"Don't...Know..Ah!" Touching the correct two wires at last, the door grudgingly slid open, revealing a dark corridor of sorts, all the lights on the walls burnt out eons ago.  
  
The two looked at each other. "After you!" Nanaki said, eyeing the darkness warily.  
  
"Yes..but you have the only light.."  
  
The creature looked at his flaming tail, then grinned sheepishly at Vincent, who was as serious as ever. "I do, don't I..well, then, follow me!"  
  
The Battle Field.  
  
Pain. The only sensation. And no, it wasn't like a Peppermint Patty. Groaning, the young ninja tried to raise her bruised head but found it too heavy to lift. By Da chao. she thought painfully. What happened?! Vaguely, she recalled the spell ending, and then.claws. Oh, the claws! "Rrrrgh!" she whined. Slowly, her senses returned, and encircling her were the sounds of a battle. "Go Cloud..." she whispered weakly, barely opening her swollen eyes to view the fight. Much to her shock, Cloud was laying only a foot or so away, unconscious and gore stained. And there was Tifa, thrown against a rock, apparently..hopefully only knocked out. So why hadn't the thing made dinner out of them?  
  
The answer came in a angry roar and the sound of metal on skin. With what energy she had, the ninja pulled herself to her feet and, dizzily, looked over towards the racket. In her weak condition, the girl nearly fainted when she saw her nemesis, the man she'd come to kill again, sidestepping the horrible claws of the monster, artfully swinging about his infamous katana. Now in a defensive crouch, now swinging forward in a dizzying volley of blows, his skill was clearly visible. Gawking at this unexpected occurrence, she nearly missed the two other girls crouched against the opposite wall. Recognizing them from that vague glimpse in the café, Yuffie saw that they were the ones she'd come to save. And here they were, the white haired one regaining consciousness at a slow rate, aided by her shaggy-haired friend. And there was their captor, protecting them!  
  
But of course! He doesn't want his prizes ruined, I'll bet! The girl's suspicion said immediately. But something told her, her female intuition? That such wasn't the case. For one thing, the duo had Shin-Ra weapons, and unless he was more insane than ever, not even Sephiroth, she didn't think would lend them such things.  
  
It took her a minute more to realize that there was one missing.hadn't there been three girls? So where was the third? She didn't get the opportunity to think too much about it, for the blackness that had threatened the edges of her vision finally claimed her.  
  
On the other side of the battlefield.  
  
Ow. Nicki thought as she attempted to regain all of her faculties. Her vision was slightly blurred, but at least she wasn't seeing double, which she was quite thankful for. She stared blearily down at a hand that didn't seem to belong to her gripping a sword with a glowing red ball in the hilt. And was it her imagination, or was the orb glowing brighter as she regarded it?  
  
He called it the Kali summon materia. she thought as she blinked slowly to clear her vision. From the depths of her painfully throbbing head, the name sparked a memory. Kali.a demon killer and demi-god of Hindi legend. She leaned on her percussionist friend, who was helping her stand. Obviously this "summon materia" is a sort of weapon. I wish I knew how to use it, 'cause mebbie it'll break this deadlock we've got going.  
  
The sphere glowed even brighter, and a familiar voice startled the musician out of her thoughts. "Hey, are you alright, Porthos?"  
  
"I'll live, Athos." was the croaked reply.  
  
"Oh, look!"  
  
From the edge of her vision, Nicki could see the other girl pointing to a spot behind the terrible monstrosity. The other girl had pointed to an area where for no apparent reason, a black hole had formed in the earth. From the opening, a dark-skinned woman of four arms and a malicious grin materialized. Flesh from the rotting and gore-spattered arms that made up the apparition's skirt fell in black gobs to the ground, and the dry skulls that hung from her necklace rattled as she languorously turned, holding a sickle one hand high.  
  
The monster caught the unexpected movement and whorled around to face his new opponent, his tail sweeping behind him and knocking the other swordsman off balance. It glared at the unanticipated complication to his imminent victory.  
  
Meanwhile, the sickle swooped unceremoniously down in a deadly arc, severing the creature's head. With another hand, the woman caught it, and held it and her weapon high in triumph. Then, she and every scrap of evidence to her existence disappeared.  
  
"Whoa.!" the guitarist and her friend breathed.  
  
On the other side of the monster, Sephiroth remained unimpressed. He took advantage of the fiend's momentary weakness and distraction to make a near suicide rush in order to plunge his sword into the horror's still beating heart.  
  
The thing screamed in purest agony, for this was one blow he could not doge or recover quickly from. Its blood spurted wildly from the wound, bedewing everything in a light covering of gore. It took one last breath to scream, but sighed instead, and collapsed in a bloody mass. Impassively, Sephiroth pulled his sword from the lifeless mound. Once the steel left its flesh, the hideous creature crumbled into dust before his emotionless eyes.  
  
Blade now free, the swordsman staggered back a couple of steps, and sagged to the crater floor as the wind began to pick up. "You girls ok?" he called over to the refugees against the wall, who nodded numbly in response. "Great...nice use of the summon materia, Nicki.."  
  
"Huh?!" The girl stared.  
  
"Well, since Kali appeared, I assume you used the materia..."  
  
The girl blinked, then looked down at the glittering red orb, now nearly black. "Oh.....but..I don't think I did anything...I mean.."  
  
"Did you think about it at all? I mean, willing it to do something to help?"  
  
"Well..I guess..."  
  
"That's all it takes to use a materia." He grinned tiredly at her.  
  
Again, she looked at the garnet-coloured orb. "Wish I'd thought of it earlier." she muttered.  
  
The warrior shrugged, then groaning, pulled himself to his feet. "Well, let's see here about these others.." he said as he moved hesitantly towards three of the four fallen. He had just reached Cloud when there came from above a sound of harsh panting and a gasp of terror.  
  
"HOLY @#$*@%$&*^#%$(*%$@$*(%$^&%@(#$)%&$%$@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" cursed a familiar voice, and Sephiroth didn't actually need to turn to know it was his enemy, the pilot, Cid Highwind. "THE #$%@%$(*~?!!!!!!! GET THE #$&^*%$%^@$)#%^#%&^$%)%$(&^@%$*^@%$^@%$^*@%$)(@%$ AWAY, YOU #$%^@%$#*(@#)$^&@$^$(@%&*(%^$&%$! #$^&^&@%$^@%$!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
From their places, the two girls stared at the newcomer. "I thought.." Elenni said quietly, "that I knew every foul word out there..but, apparently not..." Nicki nodded.  
  
Meanwhile, the blonde man was skittering down the rocks towards the warrior, whose face had a tragic but stoic look about it. A few feet from him, the pilot stopped, his steely javelin poised for battle, but he found himself unable to move, and not because of any crazy psycho trick that the nutcase-god-wannabe was playing on him. "C'mon, you #$(*%^%$!!!!!!! You killed my $^@%$* friends!!! Why don't you #^$^&%$%$ kill me too?!!!!!!!"  
  
"You have all of this dreadfully wrong." Sephiroth began, but the pilot would have none of it.  
  
"Don't you #%$%$&* give me any of that ^$^#%&%@ #$%#*$!!!!!!!" he roared. "What? You a coward suddenly now or something?"  
  
The silver-haired man slowly shook his head. "I am trying to help you.yes, I know..but Hojo."  
  
"????"  
  
"I cannot put up with his crap any more! I was going to save one of the girls that he bade me capture when we heard these cries, and approaching here, saw a demon of sorts..."  
  
Cid interrupted, "The only $^@$%*%@ demon I see is you, @#$^%@$%&!!!!!!" he sneered.  
  
"I swear that I did nothing to these three.."  
  
"Like I'm gonna #^*%^&%$(%@ believe ya!!!!!! You %#$&%@$@(tricky @#$^%@^$@#%)^(&!!!!!!!!" And Sephiroth was barely able to avoid the plunging javelin.  
  
"Now wait! Please! I know you don't trust me, and I don't expect you to, but.." Again, the pilot lunged for him.  
  
"Everything you #$^@^%&*%$ say is another %$%$(!#!@ lie!!! I aint gonna put up with it no more!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIT!!!!!!!!" Both men stopped dead in mid attack\dodge, turning to see Elenni, hands on hips, glaring at them, Cid in particular. "Stop it!!!!" she yelled. "Just..shaddap!!!!!!"  
  
"The..." Cid murmured, staring at the duo.  
  
"Please, believe him..er..sir." the white haired girl implored, shakily regaining her feet. "It's true! Really!"  
  
And the pilot seemed to believe this almost, looking at Sephiroth with a puzzled expression.  
  
"AN YOUZ EXPECTZ ME TA BELIEVE DAT #$*^*$&%? YOU TWOZ WERE HIRED BA 'IM SO DAT FOO, HOJO COULD 'PERIMENT WID UZ, TOO!!!!!"  
  
"Nani?!" Nicki spun and looked up, to see a large, muscular black man glaring at her over the barrel of a strange gun attacked to his arm.  
  
Elenni clutched at her heart. "Eep!" she whimpered fearfully.  
  
"Wha..?!!!!!! That's not true!!!!!" Sephiroth exclaimed, looking to the two men to believe him, but saw only loathing. I knew this wasn't a good idea. he thought bitterly.  
  
"And we're supposed to *&%^&^%$@$* believe you?"  
  
"A Shin-Ra foo!!!!!!"  
  
"And two #*$&%@* #$&%$@$ that appeared outta nowhere?" Cid snorted then looked at Barret. "How much ya bet that %^%$&*$ Turk Valentine was in on this, too?!"  
  
The black man sadly shook his head. "Onze a Shin-Ra, alwayz a shin- Ra," he sighed. "Sad. Whadda waste!!" And a mean look took over his face. "Of bullets I mean!!!!!!!!!" And he leveled his gun right at Sephiroth's head!!!  
  
There came suddenly from nowhere, a maniacal laughter close to the girls, which they and the silver haired warrior recognized with great horror. "Ah, yes! The traitor...I'd be much obliged, Mr. Wallace if you'd do the job for me...not the most...kosher thing to go killing your son, eh? Hee hee!!!!!! And I have so many better things to do.." Only heard by that trio, for the other two men were far too involved in their own anger, the voice was like the icy water pulling them into the depths of oblivion once more. As they stared as in midair, the dust that had been the demon, congealed into a humanoid shape that soon took on a very familiar, very hated face.  
  
The Lab  
  
"Great. Dead end." Nanaki grumbled as another room with no apparent openings loomed before them.  
  
"You sure?" Vincent looked as best he could around through the miasmatic shadows that strained even his enhanced eyes.  
  
The lion-wolf creature hunched his fore shoulders in a shrug and padded silently into the room, his flaming tail casting a dim, cheerless light over the stainless steel walls. The only things in the place, the largest so far, were a table with a few books on it, and a computer. The latter the gunman approached, followed curiously by his comrade. "You think it might have a map?"  
  
Vincent shrugged. "Worth a check, I suppose..." he murmured as he maneuvered the mouse to where all programs were listed. For a moment, all was silent as they scanned through the information, but without any sort of success.  
  
"Guess not." the creature said, hanging his head.  
  
The other man was silent, still clicking here, opening there. After a minute more he sighed. "Well, that was a waste of time." he grumbled. "Well? Where should we try..???????"  
  
"I don't know...guess we back track to that fork and see if..Vincent?" Not hearing the metallic footsteps, the creature turned back to see his companion staring at the screen intently. "...What?" Nanaki moved back over to see over the tall man's shoulder, placing his fore paws on the table.  
  
On the screen was a dialogue box that had popped up. "Hello, Professor!" it said. A second later, it was replaced with another box that exclaimed, "What is your command?" and beneath the message was an open space with a cursor in it.  
  
"...What....is ...this..?" Vincent said nearly silently.  
  
Red replied with a smirk, "Apparently Hojo's least dangerous manner of domination." But Vincent was too wrapped up in his own thoughts to laugh, typing in quickly the word Maps.  
  
The computer blipped and whirred, then projected on the monitor yet another dialogue box. "Pick subject" And beneath this was a long column of directories. After reading them, the dark haired man chose the section marked, "SHIN-RA" and following that, the subheading "Laboratories." After some whirring and clicking, the computer produced a listing of all the places used for scientific purposes, a greater amount than either had ever known to exist. The one marked, "North Crator Lab: Abandoned" was the final connection Vincent needed and soon, a detailed map was displayed on the monitor.  
  
"Great goin'!" the red-furred creature exclaimed happily. "So, what's it say?"  
  
"Well...I'd guess we're here.." he pointed to a blip on the map. "And this here..I'd guess it's an operating room of sorts.." He grimaced slightly before he continued. "I' assumed that's where he'd have taken them...unless..." Both sets of eyes followed over to the other part of the lab, a sort of detention cell it seemed. "She.they could be over here too.or wherever else that kook thought to put them."  
  
"Yes....but, they'd be in the most danger certainly if they were here..in the labs."  
  
"Agreed." Vincent clicked his claw and considered. "Well, let's check there first, and get a move on. Let's see..print?" There was no printer but a page torn from a book and a pen that was on the table served to make a quick, rough sketch. "Let's go before anything worse can happen." the gunman said finally, moving quickly towards the door. Just behind him, Nanaki couldn't help but grin. Who said that men never stop for directions?  
  
The Battle Scene  
  
The light that had made his bright emerald eyes sparkle like gems in sunlight sputtered weakly, and winked out. He curled his shoulders forward, and his whole posture conveyed defeat. Even the silver of his hair seemed tarnished.  
  
"A puppet once again." Sephiroth moaned, as his sword clattered to the ground from his nerveless fingers. He raised his eyes to stare down the night without stars that was the barrel of Barret's gun arm. With every atom, he yearned for the oblivion it offered, rather than return to the soulless existence of a mere marionette. He braced himself for the killing blow.  
  
The huge man-mountain looked from the despairing swordsman, on whom his firearm was trained to the smug madman, and back again. "Sef-servin azzhoe." He grumbled down the sights of his gun.  
  
"You lack the courage of your convictions, sir. Do it!" came the growled reply from the slouching figure.  
  
Barret glanced back at the two musicians, as they chorused, "No! Wait! Don't!" He shook his head, and began to pull the trigger. At the last second, he swung his arm around for the bullets to smash the grinning visage of Hojo.  
  
Everyone was stunned, but none as much as Sephiroth. His jaw dropped in an almost anatomically impossible expression of pure astonishment. For a long time, he was unable to make a sound. At last he grunted, "Huh?"  
  
The black man's response was a tiny, sheepish grin. "By sef-servin azzhoe, I meant dat Hojo jerk." Apparently, he HAD heard the malignant voice.  
  
"How very touching, your concern," came a grating tenor, heavily laden with sarcasm. "But it only stings a little, I'm afraid."  
  
All regarded the owner of the voice with distain, and no small amount of fear. It was Elenni who at last vocalized the prevailing opinion upon seeing the ungodly scientist, with his head covered with strange green ooze. "How ooookie!"  
  
Hojo tittered. "You thought it was going to be that easy? You must be stupider than I thought!"  
  
"Whoiz you callin' stoopid?!" The gunman re-aimed, and blasted away at least a cartridge on the villain's head, but to no avail.  
  
Laughing maniacally, the ooze sliming down his death-mask face, the mad man watched the small gang whimsically. "Ah, I believe you have yourself all confused, Mr. Wallace," he giggled. "Me? Stupid? I don't agree." And to emphasize his words, he threw at them a wave of green energy that hit like a truck.  
  
"Ohmigod! This is not good, not good at all!" whispered a battered bystander as he gingerly dialed on his PHS to the only members of the crew he didn't see.  
  
In the Lab  
  
"And here, a right turn..." Red stated, glancing up from the map and down a darkened corridor. "That should take us right to it."  
  
Vincent said nothing as he glided warily down the hall, Red just behind, lighting the way. The ominous silence of the structure was suddenly ruined by a shrill ringing sound. "What?!" The gunman stopped dead in his tracks, and turned to his comrade from whence the sound had came. The creature seemed just as confused as he at first, but when the obnoxious noise rendered itself again, it became clear that it was naught but a cell phone (can you tell I've been reading Scarlet Letter()(That's always fun!).  
  
"Um..Hello?" the red beast inquired, once he'd retrieved the instrument of communication from a small satchel he'd taken to wearing at his neck.  
  
Through a garble came the squeaky, familiar voice of Cait. "Nanki? Nanaki?!" it wheezed exhaustedly.  
  
"Yes, this is me. Cait?"  
  
"Oh gods, hurry up! This monster, I I mean Hojo is like, he's undefeatable..OH!!!! Ugh..."  
  
"What?! What's wrong? Hojo what.?"  
  
"I think he'd killed Cloud, Tifa, and Yuffie, and he just did a number on Barret! Oh, and Now he's going for Sephiroth."  
  
"SEPHIROTH?!!!!!!!!"  
  
"Yes! He's apparently on our side or something...but, anyways, the girls are here..."  
  
"All of them?"  
  
There came a silence on the other line, and Red shifted uncomfortably under his friend's demanding and worried gaze. "No." Cait finally reappeared. "Only two.a white haired one and a shaggy haired one. But, geesh! Man, will you hurry up and lend a hand? This creep.he can't be hurt by regular attacks!!! Oh good gods, please!!!!!!!"  
  
Nanaki, his mind all a whirl, nodded blankly. "Ok. Ok, we're coming. Hang on!" And so saying, he hung up and faced Vincent.  
  
"Hojo's beating the bejeezus out of the others and that was Cait. He says they need help...Cloud, Tifa, Yuffie.he says they're dead.."  
  
At this sad news, the gunman closed his eyes. "Oh gods..." He murmured. After a moment, "The girls?"  
  
"Apparently just the two of them. White haired and...shaggy I think he described them as."  
  
"Then Carolyn is elsewhere." Reverting back to his days as a TURK, all emotions subsided in a wave of rationalism. "I'll see what I can find here. You go back and launch a surprise on the others. I'll rejoin as soon as I can."  
  
Nanaki nodded. "It's a plan. Be quick!"  
  
"Right!" And without a further word, they went their own separate ways.  
  
Before moving more than ten steps down the corridor, Vincent turned and watched his departing lupine friend. I heartily hope they'll be alright.he prayed, then turned on heel and raced down the corridor.  
  
The Battle Scene  
  
"What are we gonna #^%@$*@ do?!!!" Cid hissed to Barret as the evil creature that was Hojo laughed maniacally at the pathetic mortals who were, as best they could, healing the wounds he caused them, but without much avail. Even with Regen, Wall, and Haste, the 3 very seasoned fighters still seemed no match against the seemingly weak monster. "He's #$%^&%$ immune to everything!"  
  
"........Run?" the black man shrugged helplessly. "Der aint no way ta git him!"  
  
"No way! We gotta get this *$%^%$^#$*%$%$@$(*$!#$%!%&#$&#&% before we got another #$^%@%$!# crisis..." Another wave of the impossibly strong energy came racing at the men who couldn't quite avoid it and were thrown like rag dolls to the ground.  
  
From against the wall where they huddled in shock, the two girls also were contemplating their options. "We gotta help them, somehow!" Elenni whispered desperately to her comrade. "We can't just let him kill them like..like..dogs!!!!"  
  
Nicki sighed. "What do you suggest we do?" she asked sardonically. "We aren't exactly warriors, y'know!"  
  
"Yes, but..we've gotta be able to do something..how about that thing..that red orb you summoned Kali with earlier?!"  
  
"Sephiroth said it only worked once.."  
  
"So?! Try it anyways! What have we got to lose?!!!!!"  
  
Fingering the aforementioned orb, the white-haired girl replied, "our lives?"  
  
"..Good point. But try anyhow!"  
  
"I am!" the girl growled in retortion. Then, falling silent, she tried to communicate with the orb. Please, goddess, help us! All these lives.and you're our only hope.."  
  
Then, roaring inside her head came the strangest reply. You're your own only hope. a strange, raspy voice hissed within her mind, though to the girl it seemed to come from all around. "YIKES!" she cried as she jumped back, effectively creating another lump on her head as it collided with the solid rock.  
  
Elenni was immediately at her side. "Huh? What?! What happened?!"  
  
Staring with wide eyes at the orb, the girl could only shake her head. "I'm not sure." she finally muttered. "But I believe that we're gonna have to show off what we are once and for all."  
  
"Awwwww!!! But then we'd be proving that #^*%#^ right!!!!"  
  
The girls watched as Hojo unmercifully battered the trio of men who were trying vainly to save them, the 'weak maidens' who could only view the slaughter from the safety of their own niche. "I don't think they stand a chance without help." Nicki said softly and slowly.  
  
"And what if our skills don't work on this thing? I mean, and what are we gonna do? Transport him to another realm so as to wreak havoc on others?!" Elenni's eyes blazed with passion. "And will our pitiful skills even begin to work on that..that.thing?!"  
  
The taller girl watched her emblazoned comrade wearily. "What else would you do?"  
  
Elenni was at a loss for words.  
  
The Lab  
  
Carolyn had repeated within her mind every song she knew, or at least every song that her frazzled mind would allow her to remember when from outside the door there erupted a sort of explosion. The girl, weary and muddled in the mind, not to mention more than a little dehydrated could only weakly turn her head to peer at the wavering metal slabs with a languid curiosity. Again, the sound, like a grenade or pipe bomb. The electronic doors shook like jelly but remained standing. The girl blinked slowly. What is the madman up to now? she thought sardonically. Forget his keys along with his conscience? At the thought, a semblance of a grin flitted over her pale lips, and she wearily lolled he head back so that her eyes faced the ceiling. Once more, she began the task of counting all the tiles there, ignoring best she could the annoying itch from somewhere beneath the heavy metal straps that held her captive to the operating table.  
  
Another explosion, this time followed by a tremendous crash. Blinking, she tried to roll her head back again to face the door, but it seemed too heavy. Probably imagining things anyways....she muttered to herself. Wishful...think...  
  
"Oh Gods! Carolyn!" Harsh footsteps pounded across the floor, echoing in her shattered mind. But the voice! So familiar. With her last energy, the girl swung her eyes in its direction, and at first thought she saw a mirage, a dream-child of her imagination. But no, the image was real. Vincent Valentine was there and in seconds beside her, releasing the metal bonds, breaking them if need be, and before she could convince herself to react, had her soundly in his arms. "Gods, are you..he didn't...?"  
  
For a moment, the girl was too stunned to even reply, blinking profusely to clear her vision of this fantasy, but no. The searing pain as he unwittingly brushed his hand across a very bruised spot on her arm quickly brought her into reality. "No..I'm.. I'm allright..." she managed, simultaneously touching his hand which rested on her shoulder. "Will be..."  
  
For a moment, she thought he was going to cry, but only a soul- relieving sigh came as he unexpectedly pressed her against him, hugging her tightly. "Thank the Gods.." He murmured as he gently stroked her hair.  
  
Groggily, the girl allowed her head to rest wearily on his shoulder, slowly feeling a bit of life returning to her dead limbs as hope and a love of life once again ran through her. "No.." she whispered exhaustedly. "Thank you...."  
  
"Don't thank me yet." her savior whispered back as he used a restore materia to bring back her physical health.  
  
Now a little livelier, Carolyn was able to stand under her own power. She looked up again into his eyes, and for a moment was caught in endless rubies. In an absent-minded gesture, she reached up and tucked a wayward strand of black corn-silk hair behind his ear. "I want to thank you now, anyways," she murmured distractedly. "Before I get sent to the wayside by something else.."  
  
Breath catching in his chest, the gunman nodded. "Then.You're most welcome.." he whispered. And..  
  
The cell phone rang. Blinking, as if awakening from a dream, for a moment they were confused by the alien sound. After the 3rd cry, though, Vincent finally withdrew it from his jacket pocket. "Hello.?" he inquired uncertainly.  
  
"WHERE THE #$%^#$*^@#$@%^$^%#$&*% #$^@$%(@$%@ ARE YOU?!!!!!" A familiar smoke clogged voice screamed from the other end. "WE'RE #$*#$^%$$* GETTING CREAMED OUT HERE!!!!!!!!!"  
  
"I'm coming! A minute.."  
  
"WE DON'T HAVE A #^$*&%@$&*%@$@_$%&@^!*$ MINUTE!!!!!!!"  
  
"Well, yes, but.I'll be right there!"  
  
"Better be..Oh, #$^@%$^$&*!#!!!!!!!!!!" And before he could ask what had happened, the phone went dead.  
  
As he resheathed the tool, he heard Carolyn nervously whisper, "What.was that?"  
  
"Apparently Hojo's attacking the rest of my group."  
  
"Your.group?"  
  
Vincent nodded. "AVALANCHE. We all came."  
  
The girl's eyes grew wide. "All..all of you?!"  
  
"Well, you'd invited us to your recital, and we literally entered as you vanished," he explained calmly. She nodded. "And now they need my help."  
  
"..Your help? Just your help?"  
  
Turning, the gunman felt a spark of relief inside as the familiar rather elfish look returned to the ever-changing eyes. "Right, right..our help." he corrected with a smile.  
  
"Better."  
  
At the battlefield.  
  
It was taking all of Sephiroth's diminishing resources just to keep himself and the two unsought for allies. When Cid had fallen, he barely had enough time to cast Life2 one last time, before another spell from the Hojo-thing rendered it impossible. He spared a moment to glace at the two girls huddled under an outcropping of stone as his opponent regenerated the arm that he had just lobbed off. They appeared to be preparing to do something. Hopefully flee.the swordsman thought. He turned his attention back to fighting. Well, whatever they're planning on doing, I hope they do it soon.  
  
Finished with regenerating his arm, Hojo heaved another nasty spell at the group, which tore away yet more of their waning collective strength. As he was sent sprawling by his enemy's most recent use of magic, Sephiroth was able to glimpse a familiar lupine form in scarlet fur. Alright, backup. He thought as the world wavered between the reality and utter darkness.  
  
"HOLY #$$%@#&*!!!!!!!!!" Cid laughed, wiping some blood from the courner of his mouth. "If it aint that good fer nothin' Nanaki!!!!!"  
  
"Wazzat, foo?!" Barret himself nearly smiled, the fact that Hojo was throwing some bad ass spell at him quickly wiping the grin from his face. The lion-wolf thing on the other hand wasted no time on words, and, taking the monster by surprise, lashed angrily at its eye with claws and teeth. Hojo screamed in apparent agony as the orb began to ooze a murky green fluid.and to the delight of his opponents, it didn't regenerate.  
  
"WAY TA GO FURBALL!!!!!!" Barret exclaimed as he shot a few rounds off in the air before re-aiming, this time for the monster's wound. To his delight, his attack caused the second most serious wounds yet. "I dunno whad he did, but I'm #$^#%$& glad whatever.."  
  
"I think it's working!" Elenni exclaimed happily looking up from the spot on the dirt where there were words written by stick. "At least he's not regenerating any more.."  
  
Sainte wasn't so excited. "Yeah, but I still don't get why sudden death or transport didn't have an effect!" As the shaggy-haired drummer- girl turned to look at her, she continued. "Those spells I cast were strong enough to lay a regular demon 6 feet under!"  
  
"Maybe he isn't a demon." Elenni's eyes again wandered towards the now profusely bleeding, but still lethal monster "Maybe he's..I dunno. Something.otherworldly? Or a demi-God or something.."  
  
"Sick thought!" The white haired girl re-opened her eyes as the spell was cast. A strange red aura surrounded the monster, but the only visible effect was a temporary spell of dizziness that allowed Sephiroth, now back in the real world, to create a hideous gash in the creature's side. Sighing, the swordswoman shook her head. "I just don't know what else to do!" she moaned. "Nothing, not even the heart stopping idea worked! And I can't seem to write him into oblivion, either!"  
  
"Worse yet, the guys still aren't making that big of a dent!" Elenni wailed. "What're we gonna do?!"  
  
Sainte shrugged defeatedly. "Wanna try for some more hands on stuff? At least now it'll make some degree of a difference, even if his skin STILL is nearly impenetrable.."  
  
"Errrrr..you go ahead. I'm not the best er..fighter person y'know.."  
  
Not too far from the scene of battle...  
  
"I must admit it worries me a bit if your friends are being knocked about by him. He must have supernatural or unholy powers to be so strong, for certainly he didn't appear to have such stamina." Carolyn was saying, half to herself, as she and her friend rushed towards where the din of battle was emanating from.  
  
"Unholy, certainly." Vincent retorted with a snarl, clicking a new magazine into place in a handgun kept in a jacket holster, then checking the condition of his primary weapon, Death Penalty. "And you can't be fooled by appearances. The last time I did battle with him, he was dangerous enough. JENOVA did her job well."  
  
Carolyn nodded. "And continues so. Quite some regenerative power if he escaped your thrashing! Still..."  
  
"Still what?"  
  
The girl slowed her pace a moment as she turned towards him. Head cocked curiously she replied, "He didn't trust himself to controlling me all by himself..he had Sephiroth to do the most of his dirty work."  
  
Vincent's marble-like face took on a cognitive look as he crossed his arms. "Good point.I'm sure that's part of the trouble."  
  
"Yeah.from all you've said, Sephiroth is a really bad enemy to go up with."  
  
The ruby eyes darted up and with purpose. "Yes, so let's move on, eh?" So saying, he started to move along even more rapidly than before, but the girl called him back.  
  
"If you hold on here a second, we can get there a heckuva lot faster," she muttered. Under his puzzled and rather impatient eyes, she withdrew a tattered piece of paper from her jacket pocket, and almost magically pulled a very well chewed pen from her scarlet mane. "I'll admit it. Just like that bastard thought, neither me nor my friends are of this world..we're Authoresses.able to do almost anything we please..we came to this world for a change of pace, and I'll say that so far it is the one that's impressed me the most..."  
  
The man interrupted. "Author.resses?"  
  
"Yes..we write our commands, and they come to life."  
  
"Then.. why didn't..?"  
  
Carolyn nodded. "Yeah, I know.but it's not safe to use the skill in front of others. It's happened more than once that friends of ours have been sent into oblivion by fearful citizens of a certain world." The ever- changing eyes met his suddenly, searching them with fearful scrutiny. "I trust you though.not to try that. Am I wrong in doing so?"  
  
At the battle.  
  
Nicki paused for a second, and then nodded. "You're right."  
  
The other girl was taken aback. "I'm.. right?! About what?"  
  
"You're right that only one of us should do that." The musician pushed a few wayward strands of white hair back behind her ears. "We're so caught up with offense, we've forgotten that defense is an important part of battle."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"So, how about this," she continued, picking up her katana. "I'll go see if I can help those guys, and you stay here and try and keep us from getting ourselves killed."  
  
"Sounds like a plan." Elenni returned her gaze to the work at hand.  
  
The percussionist's friend scrambled out of the little crevice, and faced the enemy, whose back was to her. Taking a deep breath, she lunged forward with great ferocity and plunged the tip of her sword into his pulsing back, through his chest cavity, and out the other end. Greenish- yellow, putrid smelling gore spewed from the wound as she ripped the weapon back to a fighting stance and swung again, this time at the seemingly fragile neck, but the metal clanged against the stalk as if it were meeting a harder brand of steel, and from the monster rose a harsh laugh like nails on a chalk board. Recovering, the girl ducked a savage spinning swing from her mirthful opponent who didn't seem all that worse for wear despite the gaping wounds all over his ugly body.  
  
"You really are comical!" he rasped unexpectedly, showing then his cracked, rather yellowish teeth. "Trying to defeat me, the most powerful servant of The Ladye!!!..now that that good-for-nothing brat has forsaken all..." His oozy glare fell upon the unconscious Sephiroth, lying limp at the base of a large rock.  
  
"Elenni!" hissed a familiar voice from nowhere. The shaggy-haired drummer jumped up, unwittingly erasing the many ineffective runes traced on the ground.  
  
"He'ey..Carolyn? You're free?!!!!"  
  
The disembodied voice didn't reply, but merely continued. "Start casting a Paralyzing spell. I'll be there in a sec to finish her off."  
  
"Wait, wait..that didn't work......" but the presence had faded. Stunned, she looked down on the field of havoc just beyond, where the monstrous mad scientist had apparently knocked Nicki to the sidelines once more. Before her horror-stricken eyes, she watched as his sinewy tentacles grasped Cid's favorite weapon, the Venus Gospel, and crushed it to dust, an event which caused the cigarette to tumble from his gaping mouth. "What've we got to lose?" she thought as she squatted down and began to draw up the spell.  
  
"Ahhhhhhhhh #$%@%#$^@!!!!!!" the pilot cursed as he leapt back from the swinging tentacles of the madman, shards of his once proud weapon falling from his clenched fists. "You #$%@&&@ #&*$%#$!!!!!" The creature merely laughed at him, simultaneously launching a surprise attack. The bundle of ropy-appendages shot forward at the speed of a train, aimed for the slower-moving man's vital spots. From somewhere behind, the blond man thought he heard a girl scream as he dodged them, but wittingly in vain.  
  
Or maybe not..  
  
His head was slammed back, certainly, but by the ground as he collided with it. Dexterously, he rolled over, prepared to defend himself again but instead found himself staring up at a now motionless creature. Surprised gasps echoed around, loudest from behind him and looking back, he found Yuffie's puffy, scratched face staring down at him. "You #*$%#* ok?!" he hissed. The ninja girl could only nod, clutching to the rocks to hold onto reality.  
  
"What's #%#$& happenin'?" Barret whispered from where he now stood, strategically behind the monster, his weapon-bearing arm aimed at the base of the thing's head.  
  
"I dunno..but let's #$%@#$ get it now!!!!" And the pilot leapt forward but was thrown back with an "OOMPH!" by an invisible barrier that now surrounded the creature. "Holy.he must be planning something &#$%&*%$&* big!...GET DOWN!!!!!!! GET DOWN NOW!!!!!!"  
  
Without a second thought, those present ducked behind large boulders as if preparing for a tornado drill in school.all save the rather woozy white haired girl not far off. Knowingly, albeit wearily, she smiled and re-sheathed her weapon. "Yeah! Way to go Elenni!" she called out as she closed her eyes and began the second part of the sequence.  
  
"What..was...that...?" The red eyes stared down at her with suspicion as the duo stepped out of a blue hole and onto a place near the edge of a plateau.  
  
"A special gate," Carolyn replied, calmly walking to the edge and looking down. As he followed warily behind, he saw a grimace spread across her pale face at whatever she saw. "This bodes not well." she murmured as he approached the edge. And true enough, it didn't. The bodies of his comrades were strewn about like unwanted dolls, and there was only one person even on their feet.a strange looking individual with flowing white hair that stood at an attention of sorts, head bowed and hands folded. But the monster..the monster was as still as a statue. Even the fluid from multiple gaping wounds had stopped in mid drip. Staring in disbelief, he almost didn't notice at first that the girl next to him was writing.again. Hesitantly, he peered over her shoulder, but could see only scribbles.  
  
"What're.."  
  
"Sh!!!" she interrupted, her delicate face contorting into a mask of concentration. The dark man quickly stepped back, still extremely confused by all that was occurring, and not sure especially what to make of the strange girl before him. A shrill cry from below hastily re-drew his attention, and looking down, he saw that the creature was once again beginning to move.  
  
"Damn!" Elenni cursed, perspiration dripping from her face. "He's too strong! Now what?!!!!!"  
  
As if on cue, the white haired girl looked up and glared at the nasty creature. Before her outward facing palms, a shimmering blue orb formed and hovered. She whispered at it, and it grew bigger, drawing on some unknown power. As it developed, the sphere began to float towards the awakening monster, and envelop it. Vincent watched, mesmerized, and could plainly see that the girl was shaking with the effort.  
  
At last, with the blue stuff completely surrounding the fiend, impeding its movement, the girl lowered her hands and staggered over. Breathlessly she gasped, "Okay, guys. Do whatever you want, now. It's completely contained."  
  
Elenni looked up at her friend and exclaimed, "I didn't know you could do that!"  
  
The white haired girl managed a weak smile. "Nether did I, 'til just now."  
  
Any other form of communication was immediately cut off as there came from within the earth a loud rumbling noise and as all watched in awe, huge, black vines shot out of the stones beneath the monster and began to twine around it until only its hideous head could be seen. With every second it tightened, choking the thing, and there was the audible crack of bones. Then, just as suddenly as they'd appeared, with a mournful cry of wind, the black tentacles crumbled to dust that in the mini-cyclone that had suddenly developed ate away at the things skin until both air and earth completely vanished.  
  
Vincent, intent on watching the scene, was suddenly startled from a gasping sound behind him. Turning, he saw the red-head, pale as a specter, struggling for breath as if she'd been half-drowned. "Carolyn!" he exclaimed worridly, helping her keep her balance.  
  
After a second, she opened her eyes, now a strange, fiery-brown. "I'm fine!" she hissed almost snappishly, and as if to prove it, launched another attack.  
  
"I haven't seen that one before, either." Elenni muttered.  
  
The white-haired girl next to her shrugged. "Dire straights bring out the best in all of us," she quipped as she sank to the ground. "You wanna give it a go?"  
  
The percussionist looked from one of her friends, then back at the bleeding monstrosity. "I don't even know how you guys did that."  
  
"Just use your imagination." Carolyn mentally offered cryptically, as she leaned on Vincent from atop the mesa.  
  
Grumbling that her friend's statement didn't really help much, Elenni stood up, a hot wind pushing sweat-drenched locks from her brow. She watched the hideous creature as it valiantly struggled against the spells that she, and the others, had leveled at it like a half-squashed insect. It tried to break the blue containment bubble, but the spell just caused sparks to fly, harming some of the bystanders. In her mind's eye, she saw an excerpt from a Monty Python movie where a giant foot comes out of the sky to squish something on the ground. The girl giggled to herself as she thought that it would be a most amusing end for this unamusing foe.  
  
Much to her horror, the darkly entertaining bit she imagined did occur. Once the giant foot disappeared, only a mass of bits, blood, and various unnamable fluids remained. Elenni took one look at this pile, and then ran behind a group of boulders to very audibly lose anything that remained in her stomach.  
  
"Poor Athos." Nicki muttered, as she unsteadily rose. Turning to her face her elevated friend, she called out, "We should attend the fallen, Carolyn."  
  
The redhead looked up at Vincent, who nodded, and guided her over to where Tifa lay.  
  
Sephiroth groaned as he slowly realized that the afterlife hurt and he willingly slipped back into unconsciousness. There came a jolt in the darkness, like sticking one's finger in a light socket, and the warrior painfully peeled his eyes open. What manner of Hell is this that it has such creatures? He began to wonder as he viewed a gray-eyed being gazing curiously down at him.  
  
It blinked and said, "Oh, good! You're awake! I was afraid I would have to do something drastic. Can you sit up?"  
  
The sore swordsman sat up, but not without much pain. He gazed groggily at it, as realization slowly dawned on him. It was Nicki. Oh. That makes sense. Another thought occurred to him, which he vocalized. "What are you doing in Hell?" he croaked.  
  
The girl giggled and rocked back on her heels. "As bad as things seem to get, I wouldn't go as far as calling this place, Hell." Sephiroth continued to look confused, so with a sigh, she continued, "You're not dead, if that's what you're thinking. Now, if you are quite finished, I have to go see if that guy with the filthy mouth is still among the living." With that, the warrior was left to stew in his confusion and pain.  
  
As Nicki knelt down beside the motionless body and rubbed her hands together in preparation of conjuring a bit of Power to forcibly awaken this man, a snippet of an old Bon Jovi song occurred to her and she gagged. Her cough morphed into a half-mad titter as she realized her reaction would not have been so volatile if the idea had occurred to her a few seconds earlier, when she was attending Sephiroth.  
  
With a shake of her head, the girl pushed the thoughts roughly away; she certainly didn't need any distractions. Again, Nicki prepared to see if this guy was alive. If. That thought gave her pause. She didn't want to think about any possible casualties; this escapade had been almost too bloody, even for her. The guitarist took a moment to glance at her two friends. Poor Elenni was still decorating the local scenery with her last meal. Carolyn, with the help of Vincent, had moved on to the boy with the very broad sword.  
  
Nicki sighed, and set herself to the task at hand. One jolt of Power was all it took for the man to return to consciousness. He did so by sitting bolt upright, taking a deep breath, and swearing loudly. The girl stood by quietly as the vulgarities degenerated into inarticulate sobs.  
  
The only thing she understood were the words "Venus Gospel", which she assumed was the name of the man's weapon. Nicki looked about, and spotted something that superficially resembled a spear near the bloody mass. She walked over, picked it up, and returned.  
  
As she dropped the weapon by the man's side, he stopped blubbering, and started to stare at the spear-like creation. "But I saw that !@$%^ )*&^%$ crush it to dust!!!!" he insisted.  
  
Nicki could only shrug. "An illusion, I guess." she offered, and tittered again, but with a note of despair that hadn't been there before. "One more patient." she sighed, throttling the urge to go curl up next to a big rock and weep uncontrollably, and moved on.  
  
Vincent kept his hand tentatively on the red-head's shaking shoulder as she bowed her head over the gore-stained body of the blond. It seemed to the gunman that only her steely determination was keeping her in that realm for the moment, and he couldn't help but worry that at any minute her strength would peter out.  
  
Yet, he seemed to underestimate her as a bright light descended upon the boy's crushed chest. There was an eerie sound of muted voices, of rushing water, and her body suddenly became as still and cold as death, her always pale face even more faintly tinted. Then, with a weary sigh of supernatural music, she sat bolt upright before collapsing, panting once more.  
  
"Lyn.?" he exclaimed nervously, but she just shook her head.  
  
"It's ok.?" she muttered. "Just.gotta..."  
  
She was suddenly interrupted by a loud coughing from the figure on the ground, and both eyes fixed on Cloud as his limbs sputtered to life. "Damn, Sephiroth..!" he grumbled as he regained his 'senses'.  
  
Elenni didn't think there could possibly be anything left in her so called stomach, and so risked looking beyond her naturally made screen of rock towards the calming chaotic scene. Nicki was trying to restore life to a young girl with a huge cross-thing clenched in her dead-white hands. Not far from that, the man with the cigarette was simultaneously cursing and crying, while Sephiroth, crouched on the ground, rubbed his apparently sore head. On the other side, Carolyn and some strange looking man in a red cape had just revived the swordsman, to whom was limping the brunette with a great deal of concern on her pretty face.  
  
"What can I do?" the drummer wondered to herself. It was then that she noticed the ruins of a little toy cat lying dejected among the rocks, which were strewn with the stuffing of some very much destroyed stuffed creature. Still fighting with her unruly inner-organs, she clambered over the terain to where the duo lay. "Well, it worked with the foot..can my imagination..?" So saying, the pictured the cat up and living (as she figured it would have been) and to her delight, the scattered limbs re-knit themselves into one and soon a woozy Cait Sith sat before her.  
  
"Wow, whadda trip." he mused groggily.  
  
Elenni smiled. "Hey, welcome back!"  
  
"Back?" The little cat looked at her with surprise, then at his surroundings. His little mouth fell wide open as he saw the carnage. "Wow! What hap.oh yeah! Man, my files are all backed up!" He shook his head as if to clear it, then looked again. Vincent and Carolyn had moved on to Barret, who was showing signs of waking, as demonstrated by his vehement growling. Nicki in the meanwhile had pulled Yuffie into the world of the living, although judging by the white-haired girl's face it hadn't been an easy battle by any means. Then.his moogle.  
  
"Oh!!!!!!!!" With a short sob, the little cat scooped the remnants of his faithful steed into his arms.best he could. "He was my best friend!" the feline moaned.  
  
Elenni, flushed with her newfound powers, smiled brightly. "Um, no prob! Er.what did he look like to begin with?"  
  
"Like a moogle." Cait replied bluntly. "A nice, fat cave moogle.?"  
  
Elenni blinked. "Um...what's a moogle?"  
  
"Don't worry, don't worry!" Both turned to see Sainte jogging towards them, the calm look on her face belaying her internal feelings.  
  
"Ugh...ah, where is he?!" Red 13 exclaimed angrily as he tried to gain his feet, an impossible feat since Vincent was holding him to the ground.  
  
"Hey, calm! It's ok, he's gone."  
  
The red eyes met, and the gunman nodded reassuringly and gestured to the big splat on the ground. A grin crossed the wolfish maw, and a vague chuckle emanated from deep inside the creature. "Ah, I see."  
  
"There's something I just don't get.though.." Carolyn suddenly interrupted.  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"Well.." The red head turned to face the duo. "If the destruction of Venus Gospel was an illusion.could the creature's death also have been an illusion?"  
  
Nanaki cocked his head to one side in a bird-like gesture. "What do you mean?"  
  
"Ah.,er, y'see." the girl groped for an explanation of her worries. "His regenerative powers were something, it would have appeared.and.you killed him once before.back during the Meteor Crisis, no?" Vincent nodded hesitantly. "Right.so what's to say that the mass of..stuff over there isn't going to re-fuse itself back into that monster?" She shuddered at the bile-coloured splat, though more from the thought of what it had been than at its current state. "Who's to say he's still in part alive.? Or who's to say it's even dead as we speak?! Could he have created an illusion?!"  
  
"I doubt it." Nanaki muttered, though his voice lacked conviction. "After all, he seemed defeated once before.then regenerated into that thing.."  
  
The girl blinked. "Oh............well........"  
  
"Well?" the red-eyed man prompted gently.  
  
"Ah..hm...." The girl unexpectedly jumped to her feet and made her way over to the puddle. The other two followed her warily, and grimaced ever so slightly as she knelt and placed her hand right over the stuff, her shoes just barely avoiding the slimy edge of the mess.  
  
"What're you doing?" Sephiroth called from his place against a rock.  
  
The girl didn't respond to his inquiry either, but after a second blinked, rubbed her head, then turned to Nicki who was helping Cait back onto his resurrected mount's head. "Heya, Sainte?"  
  
At this, the white-haired girl jumped. "Wha.?"  
  
Her eyes met Carolyn's, which were twinkling. "I think it's time we did some explaining.but anyways, you or 'Lenni wanna banish this creature forever, or you want me to?"  
  
"Explainin.?" Barret mused quietly in the background.  
  
Elenni in the meanwhile cocked her head to the side. "It's not dead? I mean, didn't that...ugh..."  
  
The girl by the mess mournful shook her head. "For a moment or so.certainly he's slowed, but you can feel the life still pulsing."  
  
"Jenova."  
  
The redhead turned a little towards Sephiroth. "What?"  
  
"It's the Jenova in his body," the silver haired warrior growled. "It'll regenerate no matter what."  
  
"Now wait a minute...We $%$&*@ destroyed that #$%%* virus!!!!!!!"  
  
"Yes, but part of her lived on in him.."  
  
Nicki sighed. "Well, either way, we gotta get rid of what's left.let him terrorize somethin' else."  
  
"Where you suggest?" Carolyn inquired, casting her eyes back on the slop with a scornful glare.  
  
"Um...."  
  
Elenni's face suddenly lit up. "I know!" Mischievously grinning, she turned to face Nicki. "Now.where was that place you got your hair to turn all white like that?"  
  
At first, the girl replied with a grimace, remembering that misadventure, but then she smiled, understanding what her friend meant. "The Void?"  
  
A nod. "Yep. The Void."  
  
Later, on the Highwind (or you can add in the casting if you want! I don't feel like writing it ()(Naw. I'm feeling lazy today. ()  
  
"Allright.you girlz certainly got sum explanin' to do." Barret grumbled from his place near the front of the impressive airship.  
  
A blank look on Elenni's face. "Explaining? Us?"  
  
Sephiroth glared down his beak-like nose at her, giving a convincing impression of a raptor intent on the kill. "Yes, you."  
  
The percussionist looked to her friends for support. Nicki shrugged philosophically and Carolyn looked a little reluctant, but Vincent quickly ended the moment of indecision. "You probably should explain to them what you explained to me. Especially after that most." he trailed off to search for the proper words. "Difficult fight."  
  
All three girls sighed as one. "I suppose you're right, Vincent." Carolyn said at last. With a sigh she glanced at her friends then tentatively gained her feet. "Right. Well, we're Authoresses.girls with power of the pen.a magical ability to write into existence, or out of it, nearly anything we choose, but only so long as we can get to our writing supplies."  
  
"Yeah, and remind me from now on," Elenni cut in, "to make sure ALL of us have some paper!"  
  
Carolyn blushed and bowed her head. "Sorry." she muttered. "It had to be me, of course."  
  
"What the #$*%*$ are you TALKIN' about?!" Cid interrupted. "What sort of bull you trying to pull?!"  
  
"It isn't bull!" Vincent shot back. "You saw those spells they cast!"  
  
"What spells? I was #$^@#$&*% unconscious!"  
  
The raven-haired man was taken aback for a moment, but eventually conceded. "Yes, I guess you were."  
  
"I wouldn't expect you to believe us anyway.at least not right this second." Carolyn added with an understanding nod.  
  
Nicki amended, "We had a helluva time believing it ourselves when we found out! That's in part why we're here. In our homeland, we were just not accepted, and we had some fears that they were gonna pull a Salem on us!"  
  
"Pull a what?!"  
  
Carolyn turned to face Yuffie. "A Salem.accuse of and murder us for the crime of witchcraft."  
  
"Sure soundz witchy ta me." Barret grumbled to himself. "Either dat or you guyziz loco, but whatevr. Keep talkin."  
  
The girls blinked at him, but decided to follow his orders. "We were just hanging here when whatshisface sent his flunky to get us. 'Cause Carolyn was locked up and unable to reach any writing materials and we didn't have any, we couldn't do much for ourselves." The guitarist said.  
  
"And even when I was free," Carolyn continued, "He was too powerful for me to control.to, ah, harness to my will. That's how my skill works. It's a bit different I think from Sainte's and Elenni's."  
  
"Sainte? Who's Sainte?" Cloud inquired with a totally bewildered look on his face.  
  
At this, Nicki stood. "I am. Nicki is just a nom de plum.a camouflage. My real name is Sainte Matthewe.sometimes Maxwell. This," she said, turning to 'Carolyn', "is La Atressa de la Mente, or Atressa. And Elenni, well, she's just Elenni."  
  
"You make that sound like a bad thing!" Elenni whined.  
  
Sainte grinned a little. "It's not! Really!"  
  
"I see...and you have different powers you say." Nanaki prompted.  
  
The white haired girl cleared her throat. "Well, uh, yeah. Different talents usually result in different powers. Or at least as near as I can figure."  
  
"It's sorta like being a math whiz or a virtuoso musician." Atressa amended. Elenni nodded as her friend continued. "But we're still trying to figure this whole thing out."  
  
"That's fer sure," the percussionist grumbled. "But, anyways."  
  
Seeing that the more reckless of the crowd weren't the least bit placified by this spotty explanation, Nicki sighed and tried to elaborate even more. "Ok. You guys apparently have this weird materia stuff you use to cast spells. I, and my friends, we have the ability to cast spells without materia. I call on the natural flow of magic and such. Elenni can use that as well, but does better usually with runes." At her words, the drummer nodded vehemently. "And 'Tressa writes.literally. Of course, none but her can read it."  
  
"Like you have room to talk," the red head snorted.  
  
Nicki gave her a sly grin then continued her litany. "Anyhow, we're just odd-balls.especially in our own place."  
  
"Where's that?"  
  
"Um.." Elenni shrugged at Yuffie. "A really messed up planet of people that are populating themselves out of existence."  
  
Carolyn\Atressa laughed. "Aye, aye.that it is. Actually, it's almost exactly like this world.save that most people don't naturally have hair that looks like it was scared into a porcupine-position.or guys with hair that's naturally silver.except old dudes, of course."  
  
"Yeah, and there ain't such a thing as materia." Sainte added.  
  
"They call it Earth.but." Elenni began, "so far, after our first escape, we tried to return. You wouldn't believe just how many EARTHS there are!" Everyone but the two strangers stared at her. "I'm serious! It's true! We were tryin' to get back from that freaked out place with all the dead guys.what'choo call it 'Tressa?"  
  
"Nani? Oh." She brushed some hair out of her face as she replied, "That's the first gate of Death."  
  
"The WHAT?!" Cid screamed as he leapt to his feet. "You mean, you freakazoids are some sort of GHOSTS?!"  
  
"No!!!" the girls exclaimed in annoyed unison.  
  
"It's just that one of MY abilities includes entering the gates of Death! A little like Sainte's void, I suppose."  
  
The white-haired girl shook her head. "Nah. The void is like an empty place between those different 'Earths'. Your freaked out place was all dark, and had that creepy icy black rivery thing with all those dead guys in it."  
  
Atressa shrugged. "Well, whatever the case.I actually have no clue if it's really the first gate of Death. It just seemed like it should be. Anyways...Ok. Start of story. Ah.......Sainte? You wanna explain?"  
  
Sainte looked at her. "No, not really. But I will, if you want."  
  
"Well sumbouddy better, and pretty soon!" Barret growled menacingly.  
  
The guitarist gulped a little at his tone then began. "Ok. Like.someone here said, we're from this dead-beat planet called Earth. and we at some point or another found out our magical capabilities. Well, in our own towns, each of us became feared and it was quickly pulled to national attention about us.cause apparently we all appeared or realized our talents at the same time."  
  
Elenni grinned. "Yeah. I was writing a hate letter about this guy.wishing he'd sink into a pit of slime as thick as his skull.and whaddya know! He did!"  
  
"Yeah." Sainte muttered as everyone present turned to stare at her fearfully. "Anyways, we were all brought to this special secret lab in the world's most powerful nation where we were constantly tested and stuff. They couldn't find anything abnormal about any of us, other than the fact that when we put our minds to it, we could write things in or out of existence."  
  
Here Atressa cut in. "Not anything grand at first. I first found my talent by writing things like, 'I WILL have such-and-such a book for Holiday'.and come Holiday, the book I wanted would appear in the middle of the floor."  
  
"Yeah. We weren't transporting to different dimensions and stuff for quite some time." Elenni said with a nod. "Little by little."  
  
"The lab guys grudgingly helped us develop our talents, helped us each realize our individual skills. But then, Elenni was talking with one of the guards at the complex who let it slip that the government was planning to use us to take over some rival nations. And at first, it seemed like a pretty good idea. Y'know, we'd wipe out a tyrannical dictator nutcase and thereby create a perfect society. But we'd read enough books to know that this could be developed into something bad.  
  
".Destroying whole colonies of people, whole cultures." Atressa murmured.  
  
"It could easily be used for wrong purposes, and with the government tasers and torture devises awaiting those of us who refused.well, we frankly didn't have much choice in the matter."  
  
Elenni grinned. "So we turned the tables on them! One day, we all crowded into Sainte's place...er, bunk... y'know, and then I made the door become hidden to all but us three so we wouldn't be disturbed. Then, we discussed what to do---whether we should run to a foreign country, go with the government.even take it over and write it around. Frankly, though, none of us had such aspirations or such burdens. At the time, we didn't feel we had the strength to handle a whole world."  
  
"Meanwhile, I'd started to study, and wondered if we could write a place INTO existence..places we'd read about or imagined."  
  
"Or seen in electronic machines." Atressa added with a smile.  
  
"Right.well, we thought we had nothing to lose, so one by one, we took turns casting spells. And 'Tressa was first one to succeed! So we ended up in that creepy place. Once there, we thought maybe we should head back to earth and rest 'cause we were all extremely worn out from all that casting.'Tressa in particular. Anyhow, I opened a gate after some extreme effort.and we came out in what I guess was a version of Earth, but what a messed up version! We were being attacked by these dweebs from the moon!" Elenni shook her head. "Our first thought was along the lines of time travel, but we eventually decided from what history we could find out about this Earth, it had nothing much to do with our own.I mean, all the elections were off!"  
  
"Election? Wazzat?" Barret interrupted. "You mean, like electin' the mayor deal?"  
  
"Um, yeah.though many countries in our Earth had a president. A few had kings still, a good deal had a parliament." The Midgarians blinked, so Sainte shrugged. "A governmental body.nothing important."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Yeah, well.we said, well, maybe we just got the wrong planet, though the thought was a bit scary." Atressa continued. "Eventually, we decided to use the method that had gotten us off our Earth in the first point, and once I'd rested enough, I tried writing us back. Now, though, we were in some other place called Earth, but apparently post apocalypse.and of course, the history was off."  
  
"If it was post apocalypse." Vincent commented, "then maybe some of the knowledge had been confused.?"  
  
The red-head nodded. "We thought that too, but let's face it. We were getting a bit cocky but also terrified. We'd been homesick since we'd been ripped from our homes by the government! This constant traveling wasn't helping any. So, we just kept going.and going.and going."  
  
"I don't know how many places we've seen now..lost count." Elenni muttered. "Anyhow, we eventually landed here, and since it's so much like our own place, we kinda been hanging here."  
  
"That'll explain that paper!" Nanaki interrupted with a self- satisfied grin. "It's all making sense now!"  
  
"You kiddin' foo?!" Barret retorted sulkily. "I'm mo confused dan ever!"  
  
Atressa didn't seem to hear the goliath. "Paper?" she inquired, raising an auburn brow.  
  
Vincent nodded and pulled from within his cape the not he'd found among the girls' sheet music. He held it out to her, saying, "It's your writing, if I'm not mistaken."  
  
She grinned and rhetorically asked, "Can't mistake that scratching, can you...yeah. This is the spell I cast to get here in the first place. Any Class M planet came up as this one, and the other notes are just simple transportation spells. Where'd you get this?"  
  
"Well, after you disappeared." the raven-haired man began hesitantly, "we were scouring Indigo Blues over to find any clue and this fell out of your music.."  
  
"Ah, merde!!!!!!" Sainte suddenly exclaimed. "We totally missed up that gig!!!!"  
  
Elenni blinked, then followed with a similar sentiment. "And we'd worked to get there, too! No tricks, no nothing!"  
  
"Well, it wasn't exactly our choice, now was it." the red-head chastised irritatedly as she glanced at a timepiece on her wrist. Seeing its message, a slow smile pressed across her lips. "Actually..we can still make it with a little, ah, string pulling."  
  
Sainte's jaw dropped. "'Tressa, you look like Hell warmed over.are you up to it!?"  
  
"As if you look any better yourselves," the keyboardist replied with a sly smile. "And yes, I'm very much up to it. Nothing more relaxing than music."  
  
Back in Midgar, at the Shin-Ra Tower.  
  
"I don't care. I don't care. I DON'T CARE!!" exclaimed the president, his voice just this side of a whine. "I don't care that some blithering idiot of a secretary thinks she saw Sephiroth, and I don't care if it really was him!! All I care is that my whole evening has been RUINED!!" He made one last restless circuit of the plushy upholstered penthouse, and plopped moodily down in one of the over-stuffed chairs.  
  
Tseng grimaced, completely discomfited by this newest tantrum. He looked away from his white-clad boss, to Dark Nation as the creature padded around the room. This hearing was not going well. The gentleman retreated a bit, as Rufus stood.  
  
The president opened his mouth to shriek, again, but was interrupted, when Elena rushed breathlessly in. "Mister President, mister President!!" the girl sketched a hasty salute. "Word has just come in that the new band at Indigo Blues is rescheduled to play this evening, and that the other band is just to open for them."  
  
With a haughty sniff, the man in white, grumbled, "That's better" and disappeared into another room, leaving Tseng bewildered, and Elena panting at the floor.  
  
"So.is he going to go then, y'think" she inquired after a few minutes.  
  
Tseng shrugged. "I don't know, but if I were you, I'd get the car ready.."  
  
The blond girl sighed loudly and shuffled out of the room. "I need a vacation!" she whined as she left. Tseng hung around a minute longer to see if anything more would be said, but seeing plainly it wasn't, shrugged and followed after her. He hadn't gotten any farther than the steps when a very angry voice startled him back into a formal salute position. "Where are you going?!" Rufus demanded, putting the finishing touches on his perfect hair. "You have to escort me there, lest you forget!!!"  
  
"Yessir!" the dark haired man said in a near sqeak which went unheard as the president stormed past him, Dark Nation sauntering along behind him looking almost as self-important as his master.  
  
Indigo Blues  
  
"I'm still, like, totally impressed!" Yuffie giggled as she gulped down a strawberry daqueria (much to her dissapointement, without alcohol..they'd been so rude as so card her!) "I mean, US, here at thee hippest club in town!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
"After all that brouhaha, we certainly deserve it!" Cid grumbled over his beer. Barret and Cloud cheered their hearty agreements.  
  
"Hey!" Nanaki suddenly interrupted. "They're coming on!"  
  
Sure enough, with a rousing, "ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR!!!" the lights flared up revealing the trio of girls, looking maybe a little tired, but fully exuberant as they launched into "Stolen Moments"*.  
  
NOTE! You can change any of my blathering if you want. It's just sorta my theory. Add, change, completely obliterate, I don't really care. Oh, and let's not forget to bring the Shin-Ra fruitcakes back in at some point! (  
  
There ya go! I've wanted to do that for a while. Have Rufus whining, that is. It's a good theory. Ya know, I just had a conversation with Sadaf about the evils of government. Hehhehheh. How odd.  
  
* It's a pretty song by Dan Fogelburg. "And in those stolen moments when love tears us apart we could be sailing through each others eyes and in the time it takes us to look beyond the dark, y'know we never had to go this far!" 


End file.
